All The Pieces
by dooder's nin
Summary: A school trip to a ski resort is an opportunity for memories to be made, but also re-made as Jackson takes a deal offered to him by Valentine when he finds himself not enjoying how much of a disappointment his friends and Frankie seem to see him. Is love tied only to memories? The importance of all the pieces of broken heart, memories, history and of people's lives are discovered


A school trip across the border into Canada to a ski resort had everyone in higher spirits, including the actual spirits that attended Monster High. It was still cold enough for everyone to be thrilled with the prospect of visiting the ski town with all that it had to offer. As expected, the ghouls had brought far too many things for their brief trip, leaving the guys struggling to both carry and comprehend what they might possibly need with all those items of clothing when they were only going to be there for three days, a large portion of which was spent on traveling. Frankie was particularly excited as she was going to be able to use this as a coincidental birthday present, her parents planning on giving her a party when they all got home, seeing as birthdays were still a fairly new thing for their daughter.

The group was settled in quickly once the long bus ride was over, having spent a large portion of that time looking over the itinerary of what was available for their school since there were other schools that were using the resort that week too. It was promoted as an expansion of the business club's interest in management and the multicultural club's cultural exchange efforts.

"That took forever!" Heath whined as they walked around to stretch their legs some before heading back up to their hotel rooms, the day having been spent more on travel than allowing them to get in any real activities. Clawd rolled his eyes at his friend's complaint, having heard it all multiple times before. He wished that Jackson had shared some of the stuff he'd taken to pass out for most of the ride, if only to have escaped the perpetual question of 'Are we there yet?' that he got enough of from his sisters. Clawdeen and Howleen had not sat next to him, but Heath made sure he didn't actually get rusty on his patience.

"Heath, it wasn't that bad." Jackson said in an attempt to get his cousin to move on now that they were actually at the ski town. Normally his cousin would have been hopping from one thing to the other as it caught his attention, but they weren't allowed to go out this late other than in the lodge's immediate surroundings. Heath scoffed at his cousin. "Yeah, but you slept for most of the ride. You don't normally get car sick so what gives? Think I'd bore you?" Heath mocked, Gil shaking his head at Heath's attitude toward himself.

"No, Heath, you keep everyone on their toes at all times." Jackson sarcastically replied, although there was truth in his statement. "But Holt doesn't do confined spaces for a long time. He gets as rambunctious as Manny. He might have decided to, I don't know, climb out to ride on the roof or something. I kinda wanted to get here in one piece, thanks." Jackson said, Deuce chuckling at the thought. But Heath just shrugged and resumed looking for something to catch his attention.

"Anyway, the girls have all sorts of things planned for all-girl get-togethers for Frankie's upcoming birthday." Gil said as they started to head back to the lodge. "You gonna get a chance to hang around with her just the two of you at all?" he asked with humor in his voice to Jackson. His friend smirked at him, realizing that they'd all be waiting for the inevitable question from their girls to be dragged off to do something they'd already planned for them.

"Cleo's already decided that we should all get to the slopes the day after tomorrow, since first she needs to scope out the town. This should be interesting." Deuce said, his own smirk on his face as he thought about the idea of his girlfriend deciding to take on skiing. But he gave a heavy sigh as he also thought about how easily it could get difficult if she had a hard time getting the hang of it, especially since it was considered to be the 'in' thing for the moment. Clawd laughed as he practically read the gorgon's mind.

"Yeah, well, while they're out on the town, we could head over to the courts. The Montreal school left open a challenge at the hockey court and we could take them up on it." Clawd said, the others considering the idea. "We'd need to get a few others to join in, but then we'd have a good size team for an early game."

"That sounds cool. I'm in if it's not too early – I told Frankie I'd take her to a birthday breakfast since she'd probably get dragged all over by the girls." Jackson said as they sat down on the edge of the back deck that looked out onto the grounds. There was little snow down by the actual lodge, but there was plenty on the slopes thanks to the colder air and the snow-making machines that kept the area well covered for the skiers. It made for quite a beautiful contrast in the dusk light as the green meshed with the white further up the mountain.

"Um…." Heath started to say, not sure what to say but Jackson could pick up on his cousin's quirks, this particular one about him wanting to say something but not sure how. He looked to the fire elemental and Heath sighed but pressed forward. "Well, maybe you shouldn't worry about, you know, rushing things with Frankie to get to the rink on time…." He said. Jackson looked curiously at him, turning to his friends for more information.

"Well, they might not want to include you in the game." Gil said, Jackson's eyes widening as he picked up on his friend's trying to let him down easy in their rejection of including him. "Not that we don't want you to join in. You're athletic and could really be great on the team, but still…"

"Are you guys _embarrassed_ to have me hanging around?" Jackson asked, doing his best to keep the hurt out of his voice. They hadn't brought up the oddity of his inclusion in monster sports or functions, long having gotten used to his presence. But there were still many others at their school that weren't so inclusive, namely a certain minotaur that continued to take pleasure in making his day difficult when he could.

"No dude! Of course not!" Deuce said, jumping to defend himself to his friend. "What these idiots are trying to say is that maybe you might want to be, a backup player, in case they won't play fair because of you being on the team. Don't want you to get hurt on the first day here." He said, patting his friend on the shoulder in an attempt to keep him from feeling bad. Jackson didn't seem to be cheered up though, giving a heavy sigh. "Fine. I'll be a backup player – always am. I can still come and watch right?" he asked, getting emphatic nods from his friends as they tried to overcompensate for ruining their friends' mood.

"Maybe if we get back inside, we can talk our way into getting to the other side of town for that concert. If there are even still tickets left." Clawd said as he attempted to change the subject. Gil looked at him curiously until he seemed to remember something he'd read on the way to the lodge. "Oh, yeah. That band you like is supposed to be putting on a huge show tonight, right?" The water monster asked Heath, the elemental's hair flaming up as he started animatedly talking about his favorite band to the others. He pulled out his brochure, Deuce taking it out of his hands before he accidentally set it on fire as they looked it over. Jackson felt himself feeling a little better as they moved past that awkwardness.

"Okay, well, we're not gonna be able to do anything if we don't do something soon." Deuce said as he looked at the time. Clawd and Gil nodded and got up to follow after Deuce, Heath already ahead of them in his excited state. "Comin' Jackson?" Clawd asked, worried about leaving his friend behind. There were plenty of people still hanging around outside on the deck, but he did feel bad still about being a little rough with asking Jackson not to push more to be on their team. Jackson shook his head, motioning for his friend to go on without him. "I'm gonna hang out around here for a little while. Go ahead and I'll see you later." Jackson said, Clawd's ears flattening as he heard the gloominess in his friend's voice. But he respected his friend's wish to be alone, giving him a brief goodbye before heading after his friends.

As the four of them went inside, Jackson dropped the fake smile and slumped his shoulders. He was used to being the outcast, getting used to taking enjoyment in his projects when he'd been set aside again. It had gotten a lot better once he enrolled at Monster High, but there were times when it left him feeling low that even his own family pushed him aside now and then – even if it was for his own good like Heath seemed to be concerned with this time. He looked at the brochure Deuce had left behind with less enthusiasm than he'd had before. He sighed again, getting up to finally head inside to make sure he'd be able to get to his breakfast date with Frankie on time. But he hadn't gotten very far when one of the other guests he'd heard talking about the concert unexpectedly began blasting music to share with his friend. Jackson gasped and clutched at his head, drawing some attention to himself as he fought to keep Holt contained. But a flash of flame later and Holt was standing on the deck looking around and noticing the brochure in his hand.

"Oooh…that band's got a sick beat." Holt said, bounding over to the guy with the speaker for his phone, not caring that he was receiving some strange looks from the other monsters. "You gonna check that concert out?" he asked the guy who recovered and nodded, Holt beginning to talk to him about the music qualities for each of their songs that he'd become familiar with through his own dj activities. As usual, the Hyde was successful in managing his way into something, the guy agreeing to guide him to where the concert was taking place, even as he argued that there were likely no tickets left. But Holt scoffed at that detail. "I don't need no ticket. I've other ways of getting my way inside." He said with a smirk, wrapping his arm around the other guy's shoulders in his typical disregard for personal space, dragging him away to head over to the stadium. The other guy's friend was left wondering what exactly had happened as he continued to sit on the deck while his friend called out a goodbye while Holt continued to practically carry him across the deck. "Who was that guy?" The forgotten friend turned to ask one of the other monsters nearby, but all he got was shrugs from the others. "Hope Randy can handle him." he said, getting up and going inside, likely to wait and see if he was going to have to report his friend missing in the morning.

* * *

Jackson groaned as he rolled onto his side, slowly opening his eyes despite the pounding headache he had. "Aw, Holt…what did you do this time?" He said, getting to his knees and rubbing a hand across his face before attempting to take in his surroundings. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near anywhere he recognized. "Holt, couldn't you wait until we knew more about where we were? Or had a map?" He grumbled, searching his pockets for his phone or any other evidence of where he'd wandered off to while his alter ego was in control. He pulled out his phone, seeing the screen cracked. He groaned as he tried to get it to turn on, but not getting more than a shaking, multicolored screen. "Of course you broke it…." He said, pocketing the phone again and attempting to make his way to the street and out of yet another alley.

Getting out onto the street, he received a few odd looks from passing people, finding the majority of those people to be human. He gave them nervous smiles, hoping that Holt hadn't done something to affect the way he looked more than the dirtied pants and shirt. Spotting a police car sitting by the side of the road, he sighed to himself, figuring to just get things over with sooner rather than later. He crossed the street as soon as possible and tapped on the driver window, the police officer looking oddly at him as he rolled down the window.

"Can I help you?" The officer politely asked, throwing Jackson off guard at the accent until he remembered that he was in Canada. Jackson nodded and leaned down to be more eye level with the officer.

"Sorry sir, but…I know this might sound a little weird and all…but, could you tell me, uh, where exactly I am?" he asked with a sheepish smile. He was sure that the officer was going to begin grilling him on what had happened to him by the look on the man's face. "If you could, uh, please give me directions back to the ski lodge, I'd be grateful." He said, growing nervous as the guy continued to look him over.

"You go to that concert?" He asked with a tone that Jackson recognized as leading to more law-concerned questions. Jackson gave a nervous laugh, not sure how to respond although he could guess Holt probably would have headed that way. "Well, that's a good question…ha,ha…um, I might have, but I'm not a hundred percent certain if I actually got there or not." He said with what he hoped was not a panicked expression.

"Mm…hmm." The police officer said. "Back up and let me out." He said, Jackson sighing in defeat but doing as he was asked. The police officer got out of his car and Jackson tensed, really hoping that he wouldn't get tossed in jail again for something Holt might have done. "You drink anything there too?" The police officer asked, noticing Jackson's grimace as the clock tower bell chimed.

"Believe me, a hangover would probably be a million times better than the headache I've got." Jackson said. The police officer nodded, Jackson feeling some relief until the officer's next statement. "I don't doubt it. You must have taken a nasty hit to get a bruise like that." He said as he gently turned Jackson's head to get a closer look.

"What? What bruise?" Jackson said, pulling away to look in the side mirror of the patrol car. Sure enough, there was a good size bruise on his cheek. "Aw, man…" Jackson breathed out as he ran his hand across the bruise.

"You didn't know?" The police officer asked with more concern now. Jackson shook his head. "No sir. I just woke up in that alley over there and dragged myself out to ask you for directions." Jackson answered, hoping the limited truth would be enough to get him out of any hassle in getting back to the lodge.

"Seriously? You must have been caught up in one of those after concert fights that happens now and then. I didn't know there were any last night. You have all your stuff?" The officer asked, coaxing Jackson to lean against the side of the car. Jackson checked his pockets again, looking for his wallet while the officer waited. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found it, pulling it out. "Yeah…uh, no…there was more in here than what's in there now." He said, although he was sure that was more Holt's doing than actually getting mugged. Although, Holt had been getting better at avoiding giving Jackson more back alley wake up calls.

"Okay. You just sit here on the curb and I'll see if we can do something for you. Anything else not right?" the officer asked while Jackson took a seat. Jackson sighed but shrugged, thinking about how his trip seemed to just be getting better and better. But then he realized that the clock tower had chimed and so that meant it was probably later than he thought. Looking up at the clock face, he gasped and abruptly stood up, catching the police officer off guard.

"Oh no. Sir, I really need to get back to the lodge." He said, trying to persuade him to just help him get back. "Whoever hit me only cleaned me out of the cash, I've still got the cards. I really, really need to get back." He said, grimacing as his head throbbed again. "This…this is nothing. I'll be fine in a little while." He said.

The officer shook his head. "Fine. I can't force you to file a report. Hop in and I'll give you a ride to the lodge. You got yourself farther than you thought." He said, Jackson thanking him as he looked back at the clock. It was almost two hours after his date with Frankie was supposed to be, causing him to panic. "Sorry, but it's gotta be in the back. My computer's busted and in more than one piece on the passenger seat." The officer said, sending his own sheepish smile to Jackson who just gave a nod and climbed in the back, laying down once inside. The trip back wasn't too long, but Jackson shook his head at how far Holt had managed to travel in the span of one night. He sat up once the officer pulled into the lot, mentally groaning as he saw Frankie sitting on the front steps. He thanked the officer again as he let him out, receiving another suggestion to call the station about what happened before the officer drove away.

"Wow. That's got to be quite a story for me." Frankie said, Jackson wincing as he heard the irritation in her voice. "Is it good enough to explain standing me up for my birthday breakfast?" she asked, not getting up as Jackson walked over to her.

"I am so, so sorry." Jackson said, sounding very much like the first time Frankie had believed he'd genuinely stood her up at Cleo's party. "I was on the other side of town. Holt must've…" he started to explain, but Frankie's look had him redirecting his thoughts. "I know it's late and closer to lunch than breakfast, but we can still go…"

"No. The girls offered to do something with me." Frankie said, standing up. "You said Holt knew about our plans too so he isn't a good enough excuse. But I'll see you at some point I guess." She said, Jackson sighing and calling out to her as she walked down the front steps, Cleo and Draculaura waiting over by the bus area for her. Jackson let his head drop in frustration before making his way inside to get something for his headache.

"Oh no…the game…" He said, rushing back over to the on-site shuttle area to try and make it to at least one appointment he'd made. He was sure that they'd said eleven thirty and he was convinced he could make it if he pushed himself. He took a moment to catch his breath before going inside the rink, not wanting to make things worse by showing up all flushed and out of breath. He made his way toward where the others would have been getting ready, pausing to compose himself and give his friends an adequate apology. But just as he was about to walk out and announce himself to the others, he heard the accented voice of the other team asking if they were ready yet.

"You have all your team here, yes?" One of the monsters asked, Jackson watching as his friends nodded. But Deuce seemed to be a little more truthful as he shrugged and answered, "Well, there's one more guy supposed to be here." He said. "He's our backup player but…"

"He's a normie. He might be a little late." Clawd said by way of explanation, Jackson taking that as his cue to enter. But the other team laughed, causing his friend's to look at each other with what he thought was embarrassment.

"Then no wonder he is not here." Another monster said with a smirk on his face. "He is backup player, no? Do you need him?" he asked, goading them on and just waiting for the chance to tease them if they answered positively.

"Nah, he's just the backup player. And a normie. We're good to go." Heath said, knocking the breath out of Jackson as his cousin tossed him aside in order to make himself look better to those monsters from the other school. He waited for everyone to get on the ice before heading out to the bleachers. He debated on whether or not to stick around, watching them play for a few minutes and begrudgingly admitting that they were playing pretty well without his help. Even Heath seemed alright, even if he wasn't fond of playing in a cold area on an ice rink.

Jackson shook his head, repeating to himself to not indulge in self-pity. He caught his cousin's eye as he headed out, sending him a tight smile as he pushed open the door and left. He was hoping that taking the long walk back to the lodge might help him clear his mind, as much as he could knowing Holt was always lingering in the back. He paused as he passed by the sauna, wondering if he might be able to let the heat from that help ease his hurt mood. He still had his hotel card on him and it seemed like that was all he needed according to the sign on the wall. He made the impulsive decision to let himself sit in the hot atmosphere, his elemental heritage making it so that he always felt a little better when it got warmer out. He was especially grateful that no one else seemed to be using it at the time, giving him the chance to sit in silence in one of the rooms. He let his eyes close as he sat in the heat, not adding more moisture to the air like the signs suggested. But his silence was interrupted after a while, Jackson opening his eyes and half hoping it would be Heath, his cousin knowing that he would have sought out a warm place. Instead, he was surprised to see that it was Valentine. The vampire had remained at Monster High despite the disastrous affair with Draculaura, although the girls seemed to be willing to give him the opportunity to go down a different path. Still, Jackson thought it odd that the vampire might take delight in the sauna, although he also reasoned that being colder than a human might justify the vampire's decision to seek out the sauna.

"Well…I wasn't expectin' to see you here." Valentine drawled out, Jackson giving a polite wave in response but not responding. To his discomfort, the vampire took a seat adjacent to him. Jackson sighed and turned to Valentine. He'd had a couple of classes with him and even had to spend an in-class project with him once. He didn't approve of his past actions, but he didn't outright shun him like some others did either. "Valentine…I don't mean to be rude, but could you give me some space please?" he asked. Valentine chuckled but didn't move, Jackson rolling his eyes at him. "You need someone to talk to." Valentine said. "I'd have thought you would be sittin' with your buddies or with Frankie." He said, Jackson recognizing the prompt for what it was.

"Yeah, well, they've made it clear they don't…" he said, the frustration leaving him as he spoke, "…they don't want me around. Can do better things without me around. All I ever do is disappoint." He said, leaning against the wall more since he noticed Valentine come in. "Sorry…you've your own problems. I'll shut up." He said, expecting Valentine to give another of his shrugs and leave him be. But the vampire shook his head, turning more toward Jackson.

"Well, that's my specialty." Valentine said with a smile to Jackson. Jackson looked at him curiously, not sure how to follow his train of thought. "There are lots of different kinds, but I can tell heartbreak when I see it." The vampire said, reaching over and placing a hand on Jackson's chest over his heart, chuckling at how they both knew it was beating faster out of nervousness. "And you Jackson, are heartbroken." He said, Jackson fidgeting a little before shoving Valentine's hand away. The vampire laughed. "Relax Jackson. I wouldn't harvest a broken heart now that I've gone down a different path. Not unless you asked." He said as he finally gave Jackson the room that he'd asked for earlier, sliding more down the bench.

"Valentine, I'm just a little upset. Nothing new. I'll be fine." Jackson said. "Even if you are the expert, I'm not heartbroken." He said, although even he found himself unconvincing. "Frankie has every right to be upset with me missing breakfast with her. And Heath…Heath's always been a little ashamed of me being part human. You should've heard him when he didn't know about Holt and me being the same guy." He said, finding himself continuing to just pour everything out to the vampire. He briefly thought about whether or not that might be due to hypnosis, but he did feel better unloading. "He's a lot better now, but there are times when he seems like he regrets being related to me if bashing my humanness puts him in a better light with other monsters. I mean, he looks out for me and does care, but it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt…." Jackson said, trailing off and looking away. The two sat in silence for a minute before Jackson looked over and surprised Valentine with a few questions.

"What would it be like? If you did what you used to do with…you know…" he said, attempting to not sound too much like he was considering the vampire's offer. "Would it hurt?" he asked, looking down at his chest and swallowing thickly as he thought over what he was doing, realizing how crazy it was to tempt a vampire like that. He shook his head and looked back up, startled to find Valentine's face so close to his own. "Geez, personal space! What the heck?!" he said, scooting back as much as he could.

"Are you really askin' darlin'?" Valentine asked, looking very much like he was putting great effort into not just doing what he wanted. "I had several little ladies' hearts in my collection, but only a few guys who'd just been _waiting_ for me to come along, like you, but no humans. It's been a while, but I'd be gentle in helpin' you out." He said, Jackson gulping at how close Valentine was to him.

"Why would I want to?" Jackson asked, looking for more information, hoping that just talking to him would get the other man's to ease back. Valentine smiled but did lean back, Jackson sighing in relief. "Taking a little bit would ease that ache, I promise. It'll hurt only for a minute but then it'll be all over and you would feel lighter – won't even think about whatever was causing that ache in the first place." Valentine said with a flourish of his wrist. "And maybe even your girl would appreciate your happier spirits. She might like having the new you around."

"And what would you get out of it?" Jackson asked, trying to comprehend the vampire's methods. "If you worked so hard to get Draculaura to love you completely only to break her heart, what would that give you? Wouldn't she have been miserable afterwards?"

Valentine laughed at Jackson's questions, earning a blush that covered Jackson's face. "Darlin'…love is a powerful thing but then again, so is the anguish that comes from a broken heart. With it broken, I got both of those emotions and it would give me quite a boost. She'd have been just as much herself without having to dwell on either extreme too much." He said with a shrug. Jackson looked on wide-eyed as he realized the potential danger he might be in if he continued this conversation with such a powerful vampire, the others often forgetting the strength of Valentine's abilities if he was able to get to even the daughter of the famous Dracula.

"Alright, well, as nice as Ghoulia is, turning into a zombie isn't exactly the immediate answer to my problem." Jackson said, sitting up straighter before standing and backing away. "I appreciate you letting me talk to you about my issues, but…"

"I wouldn't be taking the whole thing, if that's what you're worried about." Valentine said, interrupting Jackson's attempt at a polite and hasty farewell. "You'd be yourself but I'd only take the most recent bits that put you in such a depressed state. I'm a good friend like that." He said with a smile as he saw that Jackson was reconsidering. "I didn't have to go and break it like I was doin' with Draculaura, so you've not got a clean break in your heart's aura that I used to look for. Like I said, there were other guys I happened to come upon in your state, but I was able to piece it back enough to take what I wanted. Not too hard if you know what you're doing." He said, standing up to walk over to Jackson. "You'd be rid of that sorrow that's got you down and I'll get a little something out of it too. And over time it can be replaced with more pleasant things, unless you're unlucky enough to need my help again." He said, Jackson biting his lip as he thought over the immediate benefits after the particularly difficult day. He sometimes got into this unpleasant state, but working himself out of it with Holt's unexpected appearances made it more difficult.

"Just…a little bit?" Jackson asked warily in a small, unsure voice, thinking over the benefit for himself and for not being a downer anymore for Frankie over the trip. "I'd just forget about feeling so bummed about disappointing Frankie and Heath today?" he asked. Valentine nodded, wrapping an arm around Jackson's shoulders to guide him back over the bench again. "I'd just get rid of some of that bruising that _isn't_ on your face." He said, Jackson taking a seat. "Do we have ourselves a deal?" he asked, holding his hand out to Jackson. The other boy sighed before tentatively taking the offered hand and giving a small nod as he shook his hand.

"Well, then. Sit back and get ready." Valentine said as he leaned Jackson back to recline against the wall. "And relax Jackson. It's not like I'm going to rip into your chest and pull it out. Just take a deep breath and hold it. I'll do the rest." He said, placing his hand on Jackson's shoulder while the other lay over Jackson's heart. Valentine chuckled at how fast he felt Jackson's heart was beating in anxiety as he leaned over him. "Aww…That little heart of yours is beatin' so fast Jackson. Don't tense up or I might get a little carried away." Valentine said with a smirk, Jackson beginning to regret his decision to agree to that deal. But before he could retract his part of the deal, he felt a tugging sensation on his chest, forcing him to hold his breath until Valentine pulled away. Jackson slid down the wall a little, Valentine guiding him to lay out on the bench. "Thank you Jackson. I was lookin' for a little somethin' and you were just what I needed." Valentine said with an edge to his voice that Jackson hadn't heard in a while. "You'll be tired but that's nothin' a little sleep in here won't fix. Enjoy." He said, Jackson's eyes drooping as he watched Valentine leave and giving into the sleep that he suddenly found himself craving.

* * *

"Jackson! Jackson!" Jackson heard a voice calling to him, feeling someone shaking him gently. "Wake up Jackson. This probably isn't the best spot to take a nap." He heard someone continuing to talk to him, groaning a little as he woke up. "Come on. Time to head back to the lodge." The other person said, looking a little guiltily at Jackson and making him feel a little nervous about why that might be.

"Why?" Jackson tried to say, but being in the sauna for so long made his voice a little scratchy. He swallowed and asked again, his voice sounding more like his own. The other boy rolled his eyes as he prodded him to get up and walk over to the locker room with him so he could get back into his clothes.

"Because you've been in here a while and I'm sure the others are looking for you too." The boy said, making Jackson uncomfortable with how familiar he was being with him as he followed him around. "But they don't understand wanting a little heat every now and then like we do, so I figured you might have taken a detour here."

"Oh right. Fire elemental." Jackson said as he looked at the other boy, earning a confused and concerned look from Heath. "Thanks I guess. Don't know why you bothered. I'd have been okay, just a little parched when I woke up on my own." Jackson said, grabbing at his clothes to be able to put at least his pants on in the other's company. He shot Heath another curious look before simply walking into one of the dressing rooms when it seemed to him that he wasn't going to leave.

"Yeah…You sure you're okay?" Heath asked as he waited for his cousin. "That bruise didn't do anything to your head on the inside, did it?" he asked.

"I have a bruise on my head?" Jackson asked as he stepped out of the changing area, looking shocked at the news. Heath winced at that, his cousin having been known for not realizing one half had done damage to them without telling the other. He nodded and Jackson huffed in frustration as he walked over to the mirror to look over the damage to his face. "Oh yeah...that. I thought you meant another." Jackson said. "You do something else too? You've got a red mark on your chest." Heath said, drawing Jackson's attention away from his face. Jackson shrugged but put on his shirt, relieved that he'd opted for a comfortable yellow polo shirt for the ride rather than his usual outfit.

"Well, uh, thanks again for checking on me. I'm just going to head back to the hotel if you want to, I dunno, do whatever else it was you were going to do." Jackson said, walking around Heath to get to the door. Heath rolled his eyes and caught Jackson's arm to keep him from just walking away.

"So that's it? That's all you're going to say? We cut the game a little early so I could come find you." Heath said, Jackson looking at him in confusion. "I know, I know…we should've waited, but you could've sat in the stands and watched like you wanted to. We'd have found a way to get you to play with us….maybe…" Heath trailed off, looking less sure of himself as he spoke with his cousin.

"What are you talking about?" Jackson asked in confusion. "I was at the hockey arena and I did see a game, but then I came here. Why's that an issue for you?" Jackson asked, trying to get Heath to let go of him. Heath got the message and let go of Jackson's arm, following him out of the sauna and back onto the path to the lodge.

"Because I blew you off again. I don't know how long you were there…or what you may…or may not...have heard. And I felt bad." Heath said as he walked alongside Jackson, carefully picking his words in case it really was just a case of his cousin changing his plans. "I shouldn't have done that, but you were late. How'd you get that bruise on face?" Heath asked, shifting quickly from topic to topic as he normally did. Jackson laughed. "Don't get freaked out, but I have an alter ego named Holt Hyde who does some stupid stuff and leaves me with those little reminders." Jackson said in all seriousness, Heath rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, thanks." Heath said, assuming Jackson was back to his normal self in what he thought was his typical sarcasm. "But did Holt leave you a message or something?" Jackson shook his head, pulling out his phone to show Heath the cracked screen. Heath gave him a sympathetic look. "Don't worry. Your parents will get you another. Aunt Sydney was saying you were due for an update soon anyway." Heath said, causing Jackson to abruptly stop walking.

"_Aunt_ Sydney? Who are you?" Jackson asked, an accusatory tone in his voice. "Look. I don't know you, and I appreciate you looking out for me back there, but I don't need a stalker. Got one already attached to me thanks." He said, looking ready to run off.

"Jackson, this isn't funny man." Heath said, turning back to face his cousin. "I knew you heard what I said…oh, man…" Heath said, his hair flaming in frustration. "But pretending not to know your cousin is a pretty childish way to handle things. I thought you were better than that." Heath said, Jackson walking past him quickly to get to the lodge. "Jackson! Come back here and talk to me, man!" Heath said, following after Jackson.

"No! Keep away from me!" Jackson said, running inside and heading for the front desk, Heath not too far behind. Jackson rang the bell impatiently to get the attendant's attention. "Yeah, hi, um…there's this guy and I need to call the police." He said. The attendant nodded and grabbed a pad of paper while picking up the desk phone to place on the counter for Jackson to use. "I'm sure everything's alright. If you could give me your name…." she said as Jackson realized that he wasn't sure what number he should immediately dial. "Jackson Jekyll." He said to her, her face taking on an expression of recognition. "Oh. Yes. There's a package here for you from a Holt Hyde…." She said, reaching to the mailbox behind the desk and handing it to him before writing down on some form his name. Jackson paused in his pondering over the police number as he looked over the package.

"There you are!" Heath said, prompting Jackson to drop the phone out of his hands and spin around. "Jackson, what's wrong? Did you do something to your head last night?" Heath said as he approached his cousin, Jackson backing away from him. "Why won't you leave me alone?" Jackson whined, alarming the attendant. "This is the guy I was talking about." He said.

"But you came in with him last night. I watched you arrive with the rest of your school and you seemed alright then." She said in confusion, Jackson looking equally concerned as he turned to face her. "That doesn't mean he isn't up to something but I'm sure things can be resolved without the police." She said, attempting to keep things calm in the lobby.

"I walked in with him? That's impossible – I've never seen him before." Jackson said, growing increasingly flustered. Heath groaned and rubbed his face. "Oh man. The first day Jackson – you had to do this on the first day…" he said, walking over more calmly to his cousin since his attention was on the woman. "It's okay. We'll just head to the nearest hospital and they can…."

"I'm not going to any hospital! Especially with you. _I. Don't. Know. You_!" Jackson said, emphasizing his words. Heath in turn growled in frustration, his hair flaming. "_Yes. You. Do_." He said, grabbing at Jackson's arm and dragging him over to one of the couches. "I'm your cousin. How can you forget the awesome Heath Burns?" he tried to jokingly say as he ran his hand along Jackson's head. "Holt did a number on you this time if you can't remember anything." He said, taking out his phone to call the others.

"What are you going on about?" Jackson asked, making Heath more panicked. The fire elemental went to reiterate what he had been saying when the other person on the line picked up and he started speaking into his phone. Jackson sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get anywhere with the way things were going and decided to open his package. He was a little wary, Holt having left nasty surprises for him before. But since the package wasn't bleeding or dripping with any other gross substance, he proceeded to tear open the tiny box as best he could. "…just get here quick Frankie. Okay…bye" He heard Heath say as he succeeded in getting the obsessive amount of packaging tape Holt must have used off the box. Inside were two shiny cd cases and other memorabilia-looking items, along with a note that had Holt's handwriting:

_**"I know we were supposed to get back to Frankie for this morning but I got a little wrapped up on stage and backstage at the concert – don't you wish you had my kind of talent like that to be so popular. Heath loves this band and I think Frankie doesn't mind it either so I talked my way into getting these limited editions for the two of them at a cheap price since the band felt bad that one of the lights blew and the stand hit the side of our head – saw some stars of every kind after that but you'll be fine ya wuss. Fell off the mixing platform and cracked our phone but I'm sure you know that already. Tell Frankie sorry for making us late. And sorry for the alley I'm sure you're gonna be in unless the phone doesn't give out completely before I make it back….no I'm not."**_

Jackson rolled his eyes at the lengthier note that Holt had left rather than the usual brief message. But the end was definitely him and so he was feeling a little less worried about what might have happened in his most recent memory gap, but still didn't have any answers about Heath aside from the fact that Holt must know him.

"I'm here. We just got back. Clawdeen wanted to head to the pool before going to the club." Frankie said, catching her breath as she stopped over by Heath. Jackson looked up at her arrival, blushing as Frankie took a seat next to him. He scooted a little away from her, causing Frankie to look a little hurt. "Um…Frankie? Holt left this for you." Jackson said, handing her one of the cds. She took it and he felt a little envious of his other half when she gasped and grabbed it with both hands, obviously thrilled to have gotten the gift. "Oh…you had me worried that there really was a problem Heath. Oh, but I love the surprise. Thank you both." Frankie said, launching herself onto Jackson to give him an enormous hug. "You could've waited until it was actually my birthday, but I understand why you did it now. I'm sorry I was so short with you this morning. I didn't even ask about the bruise." She said as she ran a hand along his cheek. Jackson had turned a bright shade of red at Frankie's actions, the box slipping off his lap and onto the floor for Heath to pick up.

"Uh…um…uh, Frankie. I, um, you seem really nice and Holt clearly likes you. I mean, why wouldn't he? I like you too. No, um…well, yes, but…could you…could you get off me?" Jackson stammered as Frankie cuddled against his side.

"See. Somethin ain't right Frankie." Heath said, the box under his arm after he'd rifled through it. "Ask him how you two first met." He said, Frankie turning to Jackson with a questioning look on her face that called for him to answer Heath's question.

"Um…we just did." Jackson said, still looking uncomfortable even as Frankie pulled away. "Why? Am I supposed to know _her_ too?" Jackson asked turning to Heath. "Holt wrote me a note that these are for you guys so _he_ must know you…but I have no idea who you are." Jackson said, Frankie grabbing the note out of Jackson's head and reading it. She gasped, standing up to show it to Heath who groaned as he finished reading it.

"You _did_ hit your head. I knew it." Heath said as he looked back up to Jackson. "Why does Holt cause so much trouble for you and everybody around you?" he asked rhetorically. Jackson gave a humorless laugh at the question. "I often ask myself that. When I get an answer, I'll let you know." He said.

"But the knock to the head couldn't be the whole thing." Frankie said, turning to Heath. "This morning I met him out front when the police officer dropped him off." She said, waving off Heath's questioning look at that piece of information. "He knew me then. He tried everything to get me to go to lunch with him but I was moody from him missing our date again and left with the girls." She said, shooting an apologetic look to Jackson.

"Hey. No." Jackson said, leaning forward to interject into the conversation and standing up. "I don't know what you thought was going on, but the officer dropped me off and I climbed up the steps to go inside, but then I decided to head to the ice rink. When I got there, there game was already going on so I went to come back to the lodge but I found the sauna and went in there instead. I talked with Valentine and then…" Jackson said as he repeated his day according to him but paused as his expression turned thoughtful as he tried to recall what he and the vampire had talked about. "Right….Valentine took my broken heart." Jackson said as he rubbed at his chest. "I must've fallen asleep after that and then that's when you woke me up." He said, turning back to see their horrified faces staring back at him. "What?" he asked, standing up in case things got even more bizarre and he needed to bolt.

"Wh-what was that last part?" Frankie said timidly, taking a few steps closer to him and causing Jackson to back away. "Um…the part about Heath waking me up from my nap in the sauna or…" he started to say but Frankie's frantic headshake had him looking to Heath for how to deal with her emotional outburst. But the fire elemental looked just as terrified, the box nearly falling out of his grip.

"No. Jackson…." Frankie said, trying to get close to him. "Did he really take…how is that even possible?" she asked. Jackson gave her a small shrug. "I dunno. It's a vampire thing. Said he never had a normie heart before though. He also said he'd be gentle but that wasn't really gentle." He said, scrunching up his face as he thought back on it. But he lunged out of the way when it seemed like Frankie was going to launch herself at him again, the three of them playing a game of cat-and-mouse for a while until Jackson began to run down one of the hallways and up the stairs.

But since he apparently didn't remember Heath was on the track team too, Jackson found himself with Heath hot on his heels as he ran to his room. He quickly opened the door and shut it in the other's face, backing away in the hopes that they would just go away. But as he stood there he watched open-mouthed as the door was unlocked and Heath came into the room with Frankie, Jackson tossing his hands in the air in frustration as it seemed he was now trapped in the room with them. Heath placed the box on the table before walking over to his cousin.

"Okay, um, just…sit down on the bed for a minute. Alright?" Heath asked, Jackson reluctantly doing as Heath asked, leaning back to recline against the headboard with his arms crossed, waiting for them to say something else. Frankie looked to Heath with a worried face before walking over and uncrossing Jackson's arms. "What are you doing?" Jackson asked her, watching her every move. Frankie worried her bottom lip before answering. "I'm worried about you. Just…let me check." She said as she sat on the bed near him. Jackson made to shift away but Frankie's gentle touch seemed to do the trick as he stopped moving away. Cautiously, he watched as Frankie took a deep breath as though expecting some horrible news before she leaned towards him. Jackson clenched his eyes shut as he turned his head to the side, but opened them in surprise when he felt her head pressed against his chest.

"Well? It's still actually, you know, there…right?" Heath squeamishly asked as Frankie continued to stay silent. "Frankie. Enough with the suspense…is it there?" Heath said, Frankie making a noise of affirmation but not moving. "Something's not right though. It doesn't sound quite the same." She said, Jackson looking between her and Heath. She removed her head from against his chest only for Jackson to find himself with Heath taking her place.

"Oh, come on. You never heard a heartbeat before?" Jackson asked. "All humans have one. I'm sure you do too Heath. My mom's an elemental like you and I know she does so this can't be all that exciting. I know it's not identical but find yourself some other human to…" he ranted, Heath cutting him off with a hand over his mouth as he listened.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but you're right. It's like, not as, I dunno, _loud_ like it is." Heath said. "But you would be the expert Frankie. I only know from when we were really little and would play doctor." Heath said, Jackson mumbling something against his hand, causing Heath to apologize and remove his hand. "If this is some sort of weird fetish you two have, count me out. You can find another human to play doctor with Frankenstein." He said as he looked over at Frankie who rolled her eyes at the jibe.

"So what did Valentine do?" Frankie asked as Jackson pushed Heath away from him. "He obviously didn't take his heart – I don't think he'd physically be able to do that, _but_ he does know some magic." She said, clearly fighting the desire to return to her position on the bed near to her boyfriend.

"Valentine said he would only take a part of my heart's aura. You can't take a heart literally. Well, you can, and a vampire definitely could…but that's not the point and I'd be dead if that was the case." Jackson explained, rambling a little. "From what I can remember, I asked him if he could help me not remember the aches and what had caused them. He said he'd get a little boost and I'd feel lighter. I do actually, but that was before you two started hounding me. You're worse than Clawd or his sisters." Jackson said.

"Ah! You remember them but not us?" Heath said, startling Jackson with his outburst. He shot a look to the elemental but nodded his head. "Of course I do. I've had him in a bunch of classes and occasionally I hang out with him and Deuce and Gil. He doesn't really travel all that much in my other social circles but I know him pretty well." He said, returning to lying with his arms across his chest.

"Wait…wait…you said Valentine told you he'd help you forget what caused those aches…" Heath said, Frankie catching onto where Heath was going. "Oh, Jackson…cuz'….I'm so sorry." Heath said guiltily.

"Apology accepted. Can you go now?" Jackson rushed to say, making shooing motions with his hands. Frankie continued to stare at him with wide eyes, Jackson huffing in frustration. "_Please?_" he tried again, hoping that he could get them away from him. "Oh, no…you had a key, didn't you? That's how you got in." Jackson said, groaning and covering his face with his hands before wincing as he forgot about the bruise on his face. Frankie took the opportunity to cuddle against him, Jackson sighing in defeat before awkwardly rubbing her back. He didn't recall her in any of his memories, but she was obviously distraught over something and he always tried to be as polite and kind as his father emphasized.

"Jackson. I didn't mean to be so mean. This isn't the first time we've had to reschedule dates and stuff, but I'd had some grand plan of how things were supposed to go for this trip leading up to my birthday and it seemed like it was going to all get shoved aside when the first thing didn't go as planned and I…I shouldn't have been like that." She ranted, Jackson unsure of what to say to comfort her. "But we'll fix it. I promise, we'll fix it." She said as she gently placed a hand on his chest, Heath nodding along with a determined look on his face.

"Okaay. Assuming I believe your craziness, how would you do that?" Jackson asked. "You can't just ask Valentine for those pieces of my heart back. He said it wasn't a clean break or something and so he'd only be able to pick at it to get at what he was looking for." Jackson said, Frankie whimpering as he spoke.

"Well I'm gonna go ask him anyway." Heath said, anger in his voice. "How could he do that? I thought he was supposed to be trying to not do that sort of thing anymore. He's such a liar!" He said, hair flaming. "Can you stay with him Frankie? I'll be right back." Heath said, ignoring Jackson's calls to just leave things alone. Jackson dropped his head back onto the pillow after the door slammed shut, Frankie holding him closer.

"Frankie…um…" Jackson stammered, sounding to Frankie like he did when they'd first met and when she'd asked him to start to date again. He'd always been nervous about making sure that he didn't do anything to make her unhappy or her parents unhappy, Frankie finding it adorable when he still did that stammering from time to time.

"Jackson. I'll help you remember. I'm sorry you wanted to forget. Valentine shouldn't have even offered such a thing to you when you were feeling like that." Frankie said, resting her head on his chest again. Jackson sighed but didn't fidget to get her to move like he had before. "Frankie. It's not going to stop suddenly. You don't need to monitor it." He said, but his words had the opposite effect.

"What if that's a delayed side-effect of not having it be whole?" she asked, looking up at his face. Jackson blushed at how close they were, nervously clearing his throat. "Well, then, that would suck." He said, Frankie unable to keep from smiling at his dry humor. "Seriously though, Valentine said I would be fine. Over time, I might be able to replenish what he took."

"Why did he want it?" She asked, returning to resting her head on his chest despite Jackson's discomfort at being so close to someone he didn't remember knowing. Jackson shrugged. "I just happened to be there. Right time and place for him to get a quick meal. He's like a recovering addict and I was dangled in front of him as easy picking." He said, feeling Frankie's hold tighten. "He ate it?" she said, sounding like she might throw up at the idea.

"He's a vampire. He _drinks_ blood. He must also feed off that energy too from those emotions he harvested and cultivated from all those other hearts over the years. I heard that physic vampires exist too." Jackson said, not exactly comforting Frankie with his comments. "Why else would he have kept all those broken hearts for so long? Sure, he probably took a lot of pride in his abilities, but he probably fed off of that too." he said.

"Well, Heath and I can build up what he took and you'll be yourself again." Frankie said in a determined voice. Jackson laughed at that, patting Frankie on the back. "I'm flattered and all, but I haven't gone anywhere. I'm still me. And Holt." He said, Frankie shooting up into a sitting position. As much as Jackson had thought of their cuddling as awkward at first, he did feel like this was what he should be like with this apparent stranger, finding he wanted to ask her to return to their position. But he refrained from doing so as he watched her pull out her phone.

"What are you doing?!" He asked he realized she was going to most likely trigger Holt as he saw her scroll through some music. "Come on. Holt already did a number on me last night and early this morning. Can't you wait to trigger him?" he asked, sounding hurt that he was being cast aside again. He thought that Valentine's efforts would have fixed that, but it seemed like her actions had triggered something else and he rubbed his chest.

"Oh my ghoul! What is it?" Frankie asked as he lay back again, taking deep breaths. "Jackson?" Frankie asked, running a hand across his unbruised cheek. "Valentine didn't take it all away." Jackson said, opening his eyes to look at Frankie. "For a moment, it was like it was…nevermind." He said but Frankie was persistent.

"You're upset that he didn't take _more_?!" she incredulously asked, removing his hand to check on him. "Why would you think that he didn't do everything he said he would?" she asked him, Jackson sighing in response. "Because…I…this was starting to feel nice and then you only wanted Holt and it felt like you'd done that before – toss me aside for some reason." Jackson said. "Valentine said all those aches would be gone. If you're going to try and remind me of all I forgot, then they're going to come back and I don't want that." Jackson said, pushing Frankie gently away from him to go stand by the window. "I'm sorry. You're very nice and I'm sure we can be great friends, but there must have been a reason why I thought letting Valentine take away all our time together was the only answer." He said, Frankie tearing up.

"Jackson. I know you wouldn't ask him to do all that. Maybe…maybe you only asked for this morning and he took too much. I don't know, but choosing to forget for some notion of the truth being too much to handle isn't healthy. It isn't right." Frankie said, standing next to him. "At least give me a chance." She said, Jackson sighing and running a hand through his hair in a way she'd come to learn meant he was stalling to come up with something to use to argue against her, but knew that he would come to agree.

"Alright. A chance." Jackson said, Frankie smiling and leaning against his shoulder. Now all she had to do was convince him to do the same for Heath once she figured out why Jackson would ask to forget about something that happened with him too. She worried about how he might handle things with Valentine as she sat next to Jackson, her boyfriend reaching over to the remote to turn on the television while they waited. She hoped that Heath would at least talk to Draculaura first.

* * *

Heath stormed through the lodge, hair ablaze as he looked for the vampire that had caused this mess. But instead of finding him, he ended up coming across Clawd and Draculaura in their swim gear, apparently heading over to the pool.

"Dracularua, you haven't seen Valentine anywhere, have you?" Heath asked, trying not to snap at his friends. Draculaura looked surprised to hear such a question, her boyfriend's hold on her shoulder tightening just a little at the mention of the other vampire's name. She shook her head in response, causing Heath to growl in frustration and his hair to ignite more and his eyes to turn into fiery orbs too.

"Whoa! What's got you so steamed up?" Clawd asked as he and Draculaura backed up to keep from catching any stray flames from their friend. Heath took a deep breath before answering, his eyes going back to normal. "He decided to munch on Jackson while we were at the ice rink." He answered, Draculaura gasping.

"He bit him?" she asked, hand covering her mouth as she thought about the idea. But Heath shook his head, sighing as his hair went out and shoulders slumped. "No, worse. I made Jackson feel awful enough that he asked Valentine to help him out. He definitely heard what I said to those Montreal students Clawd." Heath said, looking to his friend. Clawd gave him a sympathetic look, although he wasn't sure how that mattered with what happened with Valentine. "It was just the last straw after he felt he disappointed Frankie earlier and Valentine must have just known he was feeling heartbroken." He said. Draculaura's eyes widened as she realized where Heath was going with this.

"No…" she murmured. "He didn't?" she began, but Heath nodded to her with a glum expression. The vampire walked out of Clawd's hold and gave Heath a sympathetic hug.

"Oh, dude…how's he doin'?" Clawd asked in concern, wondering how that was even possible for their partly human friend. Heath shrugged and looked down. "He doesn't remember me or Frankie. And he said Valentine probably can't return whatever he took 'cuz it wasn't like a clean break for him to harvest." He said, Draculaura not letting him go as he confided in them. "But he also said that Valentine told him that the portions he took could be rebuilt over time, but I don't think Jackson's gonna want to try and remember. Holt might, but we haven't tried to trigger him yet in case Jackson's not fully recovered yet." Heath said with a heavy sigh.

"So it's just memory loss at this point? He's not ill or hurt or anything?" Clawd asked, Draculaura pulling away to stand beside her boyfriend again. Heath nodded at his friend's question. "Yeah. We thought it might've been from the smack to the head Holt wrote about in his note to Jackson, but so far, _only_ memory loss – and selective memory loss. He remembers you and your sisters." Heath said with a shrug. "I was on my way to find him and give him a piece of my mind."

"Not a good idea if he…" Draculaura began, swallowing past the lump in her throat, "…ate the energy from the portions he went after. He'll be stronger and faster and his magic will be heightened too." She said, Heath groaning at the thought. "He might be more willing to talk to you though." She said to her boyfriend with a smile, knowing that Valentine still had a bit of a fright whenever he and Clawd were closer than they would've liked. Heath looked to his friend for help, the werewolf nodding as he agreed to go along with his girlfriend's idea.

The three of them spent some time asking around until they finally found Valentine in the very area that Draculaura and Clawd had been heading. As he spotted them, he shot one of his debonair smiles to them, Draculaura sighing despite herself as his eyes glowed purple briefly. "Hey! I've got something to ask you." Clawd said, watching as Valentine winced a little at the harsh tone he used as he strode towards him.

"Well, I'm sure I can only do my best to provide you with answers." Valentine said, although his step backwards indicating the falseness of the confident tone he used. "But I am flattered you'd seek me out Draculaura." He said to her as he shot her another smile. She smiled in return before shaking her head and frowning at him, Clawd growling and grabbing him by his arm. "Listen up. I know how you got that power boost and it ain't from any protein bar. Fix Jackson now." He said, Heath standing by his side with his hair aflame.

"Is there somethin' wrong with your cousin Heath?" Valentine smirked as he looked over to the elemental. "Why…I thought he'd been mighty pleased with all I did for him." he said, flinching a little when Clawd raised his fist to point in his face. "Stop stalling and give us some answers." He said.

"But you've not actually asked any questions. Don't be so shy…" he said as he redirected his gaze to Draculaura, but Clawd's growling refocused his attention. Valentine sighed as he looked back to Heath. "Is he in any pain? Is he complaining of wanting that missing piece? No?" he said as he pulled himself out of Clawd's grip. "Then who's to say he needs fixin'? If he didn't want it in the first place…oh, he didn't tell you everything, did he?" Valentine said, his confident smirk reappearing.

"Yes he did. He said he'd talked to you to get some stuff off his chest when you decided to get some stuff _out_ of his chest." Heath said, his fists balling. "That is not cool, man. Put it back." Heath said. "He doesn't remember anything about me or Frankie and I know he would want…"

"How would you know what he might want? Hmm?" Valentine asked, warily looking over at Clawd briefly and noticing Clawdeen and Lagoona standing close by too. "From what he told me, all he ever wanted was for you not to always end up so disappointed that you had him as a cousin. He felt like that's all his _friends _would ever really see him as – a disappointment - even if they continued to let him stick around." He said, strolling between Heath and Clawd to get some space. "What kind of friends and family are you? No wonder his heart had broken in so many jagged pieces. But it wasn't me to offer to take it from him…he asked and we made a deal." Valentine said, smiling at the look on Heath's face.

"Only because you made it sound good to him. Huh Valentine?" Draculaura said, hand on her hips. "Jackson is very smart and he wouldn't ask that unless he thought he wouldn't be doing any damage. You're a trickster." She said, Valentine shrugging, only irritating her more. "Not like he wasn't asking if it would hurt…he did, and I told him everything I knew. And I wasn't lying about not really being able to return what I…alleviated." He said, Heath's eyes turning yellow again as he watched Valentine saunter beside the pool. "But if you get him to _want_ to remember, then he will. Find something to get a response in him. It's that simple. And his heart will be whole again for me to help soothe when you break it again." He said. But Heath had heard enough at that point, making to lunge at the vampire, but Valentine was swifter than before and deftly moved aside so that Heath went tumbling into the pool. "Good luck all. You might need it." He said with a wave as he left the pool area while Clawd was busy helping his friend out of the water, steam smoking as the water hissed from Heath's dive.

* * *

Frankie found herself unable to remain still for very long in her inability to decide what she should do with herself now that Jackson didn't seem overly fond of hanging around with her. She had apologized to him for wanting to trigger Holt to see if he would remember her, but that didn't seem to be helping all that much. She mentally groaned at how well she'd started off introducing herself to Jackson, the boy reclining on the bed with a history special on that was keeping his interest. He'd changed out of his dirtied yellow shirt into a maroon one and they hadn't really said anything to one another since then when Frankie had commented on the color.

"So…you apparently know a lot about me – which is kinda creepy, and not in a good way." Jackson said, breaking her out of her reverie. "Can you tell me a little about who you are? I mean, I don't want to be rude, but…"

"Sure." Frankie said from where she was sitting on the other bed, having picked up on Jackson's desire to have some distance between them. "Um…well, we met at school when Manny was giving you a hard time. I yelled at him and we talked for a little while…"

"So, I'm a pity case for you?" Jackson said as he looked over to her. "What? No! That's not it!" Frankie said with a hurt tone before realizing that Jackson had been teasing her. She shook her head, rubbing a hand across her face before continuing to speak.

"Anyway, um, I like the color green but that doesn't mean it's my favorite. I haven't actually decided on what my favorite food is yet either, but chocolates aren't too bad." She said, seeing Jackson smile a little as she tried to come up with something to say, feeling like this was one of those speed dating setups they'd forced Abbey into that one time. "Um…I like history class 'cuz I was only animated not that long ago and there's just so much to learn about. But I also like mad science too 'cuz I get to do it with you, but I also like Home Ick…oh, but then there's fearleading and, um…." She trailed off as she saw Jackson start to laugh.

"You're as bad as me with those indecisions. But I guess it's better to like too many things than to find nothing that interests you." He said, sitting up on the bed. Frankie smiled at him, feeling a spark of hope that things would be righted soon and she could properly apologize for being such a typical moody teenage monster. "You might find this hard to believe, but even I can get bored watching nothing but monotone documentaries. It's the middle of the day so there's nothing good on right now anyway." He said, getting up and grabbing a book out of his bag. "I'm gonna sit on the balcony for a bit. I know you said you're just worried, but you've been staring and I really don't plan on staying in here all day. I'll stay a little longer…" he rushed to say, seeing Frankie about to protest against his plans and feeling a little bad about getting her all worked up. "But…um…I haven't actually eaten anything today and at some point, I'm gonna go grab something." he said, watching as she seemed to come to an understanding.

"Oh! Of course. We can go get lunch together." She suggested, Jackson shooting her a timid smile. She wasn't sure if that meant that he was going to ask her to leave him alone since she'd been smothering him since she'd learned what had happened, or if he was just being shy about having a girl ask him to lunch.

"O-okay. S-sure." Jackson stammered, a small blush forming that relieved Frankie's worry about him wanting to push her back. He gave a short nod to her before walking out onto the balcony, leaving the door open when Frankie called out to him. She watched him get situated in one of the chairs, beginning to read whatever book he'd chosen for the trip. Frankie once again felt a little unsure of what to do since Jackson had now physically distanced himself even more from her, opting to just stay where she was to let him get comfortable while she hoped that Heath would return soon.

As though her friend could read her thoughts, she heard the lock on the door being undone. But she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her when Heath walked in with a towel around him, Clawd and Draculaura following him into the room.

"Whoa…you decide to go for a swim?" Frankie said as she took in the swimming outfits of Draculaura and Clawd, Heath rolling his eyes at her. He'd been in and out of the pool in under a minute, the flames and heat he'd had going at the time making the dip not too bad, but he was still dripping a little water from his clothes.

"We found Valentine at the pool, but he didn't give us much to work with to fix this." Heath said. "I might have been a little hasty…" Heath said with a bit of an embarrassed laugh at the end. "Good thing Abbey didn't see that one." He said as he began to pull out dry clothes. The others had no doubt he could simply dry the remaining damp portions of his clothes with his abilities, but didn't say anything as they let him focus on something else for a moment.

"Did he say anything at all?" Frankie asked Draculaura, sending her an apologetic look for her involvement. But the vampire didn't seem to be upset at having to deal with her old boyfriend again, probably used to having him around at this point. "Well…" Draculaura began, looking to Clawd to break the news to her friend.

"Valentine said we should get him to want to remember. Find something that'll trigger some response towards those memories or feelings." Clawd said quickly as Heath quickly replaced his wet shirt with a red one. Frankie continued to look at them as though anticipating more to be said. "That's it? That's all you could get out of him?" she asked unbelievingly.

"He was especially difficult today." Clawd said with a shake of his head in frustration at his encounter with the vampire. "Not that I didn't put him on edge, but that boost he got made him feel more confident about his abilities – the ones that sent Heath belly-flopping into the pool." Clawd said. Frankie stood up off the bed and walked over to the table, leaning against it.

"There has to be something else…." She said, sounding desperate. Seeing the look on Draculaura's face she gently placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Draculaura, what else did he say?" she asked. Her friend sighed but answered anyway. "He said he really did keep to his word and answered every question Jackson asked him about this, but he made a deal with Valentine anyway. I doubt he told him _every_ little detail, but Jackson was convinced enough to ask anyway. I'm sorry Frankie…" Draculaura said with a sympathetic look as Frankie looked stunned by the news.

"He asked him to forget about me and Heath?" Frankie asked, looking over to Heath for answers. But the elemental shook his head. "No. I know Jackson wouldn't do that. He probably asked to forget about this morning but Valentine twisted that into everything about you or me so he could take more for himself." He said to Frankie, Draculaura nodding in agreement.

"Don't worry Frankie. We'll spend the rest of the trip with him and he'll be back to himself again in no time." Clawd said with an encouraging smile. "Why don't we start with something to eat? I know you were going to go to some club with the others but…" he said, looking to his girlfriend and receiving a nod in response.

"Great idea Clawd. Jackson said he was starving earlier. You guys go change and we'll meet you in the restaurant." Frankie said as she attempted to come up with a plan. But Heath looked around the room in a panic.

"Frankie, where'd he go?" he asked as though just noticing that Jackson hadn't been on either bed. "Oh man…how'd I not notice he wasn't in here?" he said, hair flaming up again. "I really _am_ terrible…" he said, but Frankie's frantic gestures got him to be still. "Heath, he went out onto the balcony to read. I'm sure he's still there. He didn't sprout wings to fly off." She said, waling over to the sliding glass door and peeking out.

"Oh my ghoul!" she said, the others following her to see that the balcony was empty. "How did he do that?" she asked, leaning over the edge to see if she could spot him if he'd climbed down.

"So much for that idea Frankie." Clawd said, Draculaura sighing as her boyfriend's insensitive comment. Frankie looked absolutely panicked, Heath not doing much better. "Alright – you two head down to the lobby to see if he's gone looking for help or something. We're going to go get dressed and we'll take the upper floors." Clawd said, Frankie nodding and grabbing Heath to follow her out the door.

* * *

Jackson waited until he was sure that Frankie hadn't followed him out onto the balcony or had decided to sit closer to the door. He sat quietly, only briefly looking at the pages until he heard other voices enter the room, sure that Frankie would be sufficiently distracted enough not to notice his escape. He looked over the railing, debating on whether he should climb down when he thought over how that would be the first thing the others would assume. He climbed onto the ledge and jumped up, grabbing at the railing for the balcony above his, grunting a little from the effort it took to climb up, but pleased with himself once he'd successfully gotten himself over the railing. He took a minute to catch his breath before being startled at the sound of a voice.

"Dude…what are you doing? There are stairs for that sorta thing." He heard a voice say, it owner materializing in front of him with a curious look on his face. Jackson put a finger to his lips to shush Invisibilly, pulling them inside his room.

"Yeah, well, getting to the stairs was kind of difficult when I've got myself two stalkers watching my every move." Jackson said, sitting at the table in Invisibilly's room. "I don't know how I get myself into these things. Holt really did it this time…" Jackson grumbled, Invisibilly looking concerned.

"Did you call the police?" The other boy asked, sitting on the bed as he talked with Jackson. But Jackson sighed as he looked to his friend. "That's the problem. Everyone's convinced that I already know them and aren't going to do anything." He said, receiving a sympathetic look from Invisibilly. "I thought I'd try and trick them by going up instead of down to buy some time to get away from them." He said with a shrug.

"What do they look like? Do I know of them?" Invisibilly asked, finding his friend's situation oddly exhilarating like he was in some sort of adventure mystery. Jackson simply shrugged again. "Maybe. They said they go to our school. She was telling me a little about Monster High, so I think that part's true. But I don't know about the other. He's claiming we're family and I should just listen to him."

"You have any other close family other than Heath that you know about? He could be a distant family member…" Invisibilly suggested, but received an incredulous look from Jackson.

"Seriously? He got to you too?" Jackson asked. "What the heck is going on?" he said, hiding his face in his hands. "Even if Heath is my cousin, he's got to be, like, the worst cousin ever if he's gone to school with us long enough that you know him but he's never even said hi to me." Jackson said, getting flustered.

"Whoa…whoa…" Invisibilly said, pulling Jackson's hands away from his face. "What are you talking about? Heath's a little, um, difficult, but he loves you man. He's your cousin after all." Invisibilly said as he awkwardly attempted to understand.

"If this is about that time at Cleo's party when you first came to Monster High, you know he feels bad about bad-mouthing normies. He's apologized for it, like, half a dozen times. That's a lot for Heath." Invisibilly said. But Jackson looked even more confused.

"Cleo's party? That one from my very first day? That was ages ago. And Holt has said nothing since we started talking to each other about this Heath or this Frankie girl that keeps hanging all over me." Jackson said in confusion. Invisibilly was starting to get visibly worried now about his friend. "Dude. The girl you were talking about that was stalking you? That's Frankie? Jackson, she's your girlfriend. Or at least she was when I last checked – you and her have a bit of a high maintenance relationship with you and Holt trying to get along." Invisibilly said.

"But I don't remember them…" Jackson said with little patience. "Why would I ask for Valentine to help me forget my girlfriend? Do you know how hard it is to get any girl to like me? Or to stick with me long enough for me to consider her my girlfriend?" he said, tossing his hands in the air in frustration. "I mean, if Heath is constantly bad-mouthing humans, _that_ I might understand…." He said, slumping back in the chair.

"You went to Valentine for help? Dude, I thought you were smart!" Invisibilly kidded. "Okay…um, if you don't remember them, why do you think you went to Cleo's party?" he asked, trying to figure things out. Jackson sighed but answered his friend anyway. "I was invited by Deuce. He'd been nice enough to let me sit with him at lunch when he'd seen how difficult my day was going and he told me about his girlfriend and so when I heard about the party, Deuce suggested I go. But I only made it as far as the fountain in front of her house, well, pyramid…I'd only learned about Holt showing up when Deuce told me about him taking over the dj role from Operetta. No Heath. No Frankie." He said as he finished with an emphatic tone.

"Oh man…Jackson…Heath helped Holt with the equipment all night and Holt flirted with Frankie constantly during the party. They were definitely there." Invisibilly said, but Jackson didn't seem to believe him. "I know you're gonna hate me for asking, but why haven't you asked Holt today to fill you in on whatever he knows?" he asked, watching the predictable irritated response from Jackson at the mention of his other half being triggered.

"Because the moron broke our phone and I'm not in the mood to wake up in a back alley again with the way the day's been going." Jackson said, his friend throwing his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Sorry. I shouldn't have snapped. Just been a long day and it's only half over." Jackson said with an apologetic tone. "I'm better than that. Sorry Invisibilly." He apologized again, the other boy nodding in acceptance.

"So, enough about me…Um, what are you still doing in your room? Everything okay?" Jackson asked in an abrupt change of topic. But it seemed like every time somebody talked with him or asked him even the standard 'how are you?' greeting, all he had was bad news. Invisibilly seemed to understand his friend's tactics though and humored him.

"Well, this _is_ supposed to be a trip for the business club too so we actually have to put together something. I was just working on my project a little for when I present at the end of the trip to the rest of the club." He said, gesturing to the papers he had on the table. "Business club isn't really my thing, but my dad says it'll look good on applications so I go. It's not horrible, and it could be worse, so I try and be creative with what I've got." He said as Jackson looked over the items spread out.

"That's actually pretty interesting. Want any help while I hide?" Jackson said with a smile, Invisibilly rolling his eyes but taking him up on the offer. Jackson was nothing if not efficient in his meticulousness for detail, something he'd explained as part of that desire for some sense of predictability in his life. As they worked on Invisbilly's presentation, the invisible boy wondering how to bring up their previous topic again, Jackson surprised him with a question of his own.

"Do you ever get those kinds of comments? You know, about being human?" he asked, looking in the general direction he thought his friend was standing based on the way the papers floated in the air. "I mean, you and I aren't typical in comparison to other monsters, but you must not get hit with 'don't let him in, he's just a normie' or 'what do you expect, he's a normie' type comments." Jackson said, dropping what he was holding.

Invisibilly turned visible again and looked thoughtfully at his friend. "No, not really. Mostly because everybody just assumes I'm a ghost, no matter how many times I tell them I can only turn invisible. That whole walking through doors thing only works if the door is open already." Invisibilly said, earning a laugh from Jackson. "But I get what you're saying. I'm mostly human too but the others don't seem to remember that. I guess it's a good thing, but there _are_ times I've wished they'd remember that detail." He said, his face morphing into a happier smile as he thought of something fond. "Scarah's the only one who seems to harp on it though, always wanting to look out for me even when I tell her I can handle things. Not that I don't mind when she wants to cuddle up against me for no reason – she thinks I can't tell, but I know she finds the fact that I'm human to be interesting. I swear she's more hung up on it than I am about it, especially every time she's close to me when I'm invisible. She claims she can always find me either by hearing my thoughts or finding my heartbeat. But I can't complain." Invsibilly said, returning to looking over the papers in his hand, his bottom half starting to disappear again as his concentration on that waned.

"Frankie must be like that too. When I told her Valentine took my broken heart, she wanted to check." Jackson began to say before jumping when a stack of things fell to the floor. "Valentine did what?!" Invisiibilly asked, completely invisible at that point and making Jackson feel a little awkward as he tried to direct himself towards where his friend might be standing. "Um…I asked him to help me with…whoa, what are you doing?" Jackson said as he cut himself off when he felt a hand on the side of his neck at his pulse point.

"Sorry, just checking." Invisibilly said, turning partly visible again to give Jackson some view of him. "Humans aren't known for sticking around after that happens." Invisbilly said. "But I'm guessing this wasn't a literal thing. Can he give it back?" Invisibilly asked, Jackson shrugging.

"Why would I want him to?" he asked. "Look, I'm fine and dandy thanks. I just don't remember this Frankie or Heath and they seem determined to make sure that I do." Jackson said, about to continue with what he had to say before blushing in embarrassment when his stomach gave a very audible growl. "Sorry. Haven't eaten yet." He said.

"No problem. Let's see if we can head out and get something to eat. Maybe we'll run into some of our friends and we can figure this out." Invisibilly said as he guided his friend out of his room and they made to head toward the stairs. They found the café on Invisibilly's floor and easily found themselves a spot, Jackson looking over the variety of baked goods to choose from while Invisibilly claimed he needed to call Scarah.

"I'll be right back Jackson. Talking about Scarah reminded me to check to see if she's back from her trip to town yet." He said, Jackson nodding his head as his friend walked a little ways from him and dialed a number on his phone.

"Yeah, hey, um…you lose something?" Invisibilly said into his phone, giving a nervous smile to Jackson when he looked over to him. Jackson gave him a curious look but went back to focusing on his food. "Amnesia boy climbed onto my balcony. We're at the café on my room's floor if you hurry. Man, I think he's inhaling his food." Invisibilly said as he watched his friend in amusement. He ended the call to Heath and walked back over to his friend, laughing at how he was onto his second scone already.

"Slow down Jackson. You're going at those faster than Torelai with catnip." Invisibilly said, taking a seat with his friend. Jackson snickered as he wiped some crumbs off his face. "Sorry Billy, but I haven't eaten for a full day and Holt uses up a lot of energy with his antics." He said, taking a sip of his drink before smiling to his friend. "But Torelai with catnip is a funny image. That tail she keeps hidden comes out and the last time we all got to see her play with it worse than a puppy chasing its tail. Imagine what Clawd would look like if he had an actual tail…" Jackson said, the two of them laughing a little at the thought.

"Oh, there he is." Invisibilly said, relieved when he saw the werewolf with Heath coming out of the elevator. Jackson turned to look over his shoulder to say hi when he gave a heavy sigh. He turned back to Invisibilly, the other giving him as innocent a look as possible. "That wasn't a call to Scarah, was it?" he asked, Invisibilly looking sheepishly at him as the other joined them at their small table.

"Jackson, how…what…have you lost _all _your marbles, man?" Heath said, Jackson ignoring him and finishing up his scone. "Seriously, I'm just worried about you." Heath said, reaching out to place a hand on Jackson's shoulder but his cousin moved away.

"I appreciate the concern. But I'm good and I just want to enjoy the rest of the trip here. Can you let me do that without stalking me?" He asked, leaning back in his chair. Frankie sighed, looking like she was fighting from reaching out to him too. "And you…" Jackson began, pointing to Invisibilly, "…are a traitor." He said with a shake of his head.

"Sorry Jackson, but they're _not_ lying to you. You _do_ know them and you need to get those missing pieces back." Invisibilly said. But Draculaura shook her head, interjecting into the conversation. "He can't. They're gone now. But Valentine said they could be, like, refilled." She said, Invisibilly's eyes widening and half of his face disappearing at the news.

"See. That's why I ran off – they're not going to let me be until they've 'fixed' whatever it is they think they've broken." Jackson said, looking irritated. "Clawd, why are you going along with this?" he asked his friend. "By the way, how was your guys' game I saw earlier at the rink? I remember walking back to the locker rooms to get my gear but then I decided to go to the bleachers and watch for a few minutes before I left. I thought it was going well and you didn't seem to need me so I headed out." Jackson said, once again doing his best to ignore Heath.

"Uh, yeah. That was us. And we lost pretty bad." Clawd said with a laugh. "You're sure you didn't see him there too?" Clawd said, indicating Heath. "Did you hear anything of what we said to the other school?" he asked warily, afraid he might do more damage. But Jackson shrugged as he thought back. "The others were asking if you were ready and you said I might be running late, but since I was the backup player, they didn't think they'd need to wait. Bummer, but I can understand that." Jackson said, sounding a little upset that they hadn't waited, but with what was missing from that memory, he didn't seem overly upset that his friends hadn't put up more of an argument. "Maybe we can play lacrosse later. It's actually the national sport of Canada even though I think the general assumption is for hockey. Or at least I think. Maybe hockey's the national winter sport and lacrosse the national summer sport or something." He said, Frankie smiling wistfully as she listened to her boyfriend. He seemed to be just like his usual self like he said, only he wasn't interested in her.

"Um, maybe. We'll have to ask the guys. Maybe some of the girls will want to play too?" Clawd said, hoping to get Jackson to hang around with Frankie too. Jackson apparently could tell where he was going with his suggestion but nodded anyway.

"Great. I'm gonna go get something to eat too. Coming Heath?" Clawd said as he stood up, Heath sighing but getting up anyway to follow his friend. "You girls want anything?" He asked, but Frankie was reluctant to get up in case Jackson decided to give them the slip again. Draculaura looked to her friend before standing up too. "I'll get something for you Frankie. You stay here and Clawd and I will bring something back." She said, Frankie sending her a grateful look. Invisibilly looked a little unsure if he should stick around.

"It's okay Billy. You can disappear if you want." Jackson said to his friend, Invisibilly already semi-transparent as he sat across from him. "Thanks for listening to me. I'll see you around. Well…" he said with a smirk, Invisibilly rolling his eyes. "Haven't heard that one before…" he said sarcastically as he got up, Jackson snickering anyway. "See ya Jackson." he said before completely disappearing to leave Frankie and Jackson sitting by themselves.

"Okay. I'm sorry I did that to you." Jackson said as he turned to face Frankie. "I know I said I'd get lunch with you but honestly, you and Heath are a little clingy." He said, Frankie sighing and nodding her head as she had to admit she might have been a little much.

"It's just. You…oh, Jackson. I don't know how I should act around you." Frankie said, Jackson blushing a little. "I…I still love you but you have no idea who I am." She said, amused to see Jackson start stammering a little as he tried to come up with a response to having an apparent stranger profess her love for him and to do so in a polite way. "You don't have to say anything back. But, I just want you to know that Heath and I will need you to be patient with us while we get used to this." She said, Jackson taking a deep breath and looking immensely relieved when the others sat down again.

"I'll be right back." Jackson said, standing up and causing the others to tense up a bit. "Relax. I need to use the restroom. Can't do any disappearing tricks from in there." he said, walking across the room to the men's room. Heath bit his bottom lip. "Should I follow him to make sure he doesn't actually try to, I dunno, climb through the vents or something?" He asked, but Clawd shook his head. "No Heath. He seems like he's going to give this a chance. Let him take a breather." He said, the fire elemental nodding and quickly devouring his food much like his cousin had.

"Did you tell the others yet?" Clawd asked Draculaura, wondering how soon it would be before his sister starting to hound him for answers to his display at the pool earlier. But Draculaura nodded, easing his worries. "I did. They said they'd wait until we called them so we don't overwhelm him like you two were doing." She said, Heath looking a little sheepish.

"I can't help it if I'm just too awesome for him." Heath said, earning eye rolls from the others at the table. "What? Too intense for you ghouls?" he said, getting back to his more typical banter as he tried to do as Clawd suggested and just let Jackson ease into hanging around with them again. He waved as he saw Jackson come back out before catching himself and pulling his hand down to not seem as though he'd been watching the door since the moment his cousin left. He watched as Jackson took a deep breath before starting to head back across the room, trying to keep out of the way of some guests who'd been carrying their mountain gear. He laughed as Jackson had to duck to keep a snowboard from hitting him, while wondering how Abbey was enjoying the time up in the mountains. He'd planned on meeting up with her there soon, but that was before things had happened, although he was hoping she'd be understanding about his absence. Jackson stumbled a little more while apologizing to a few people he'd bumped into, before he ended up backing into one of the other human guests. They weren't as numerous as the monsters, but the lodge and town did seem to attract a large number of humans too as Jackson noticed earlier when he'd woken up in town.

Frankie also seemed to watch attentively as Jackson blushed and stammered out another apology to the girl as she tried to get her drink off of her scarf. She gestured in a manner that indicated that she was trying to tell him that it was no problem, Frankie gasping as she recognized the fidgeting move with her braided hair as the girl flirting with him. But what was worse was when Jackson seemed to be responding to it, lingering a little longer than was probably necessary before the girl waved a goodbye and he headed back to the table with a blush on his face.

"What was that?" she asked him immediately as he returned, not waiting for him to completely sit back down. He looked at her with a taken aback look, stammering out a denial of it being anything. "Yes it was. She was flirting with you and you let her…" she said, waiting for him to give her an answer.

"Frankie…." Draculaura whispered to her, urging her friend not to get worked up and scare off Jackson again. The green-skinned girl took a deep breath to compose herself and keep from saying anything, but she continued to look at Jackson for more information.

"Well, maybe…maybe she was. I can't stop people from deciding to flirt Frankie." Jackson said, reaching for his drink to take a sip and cover his anxiety. "She was nice when I apologized for spilling her drink. That's all. She asked if I was going to be at the lodge's club later and…um…I panicked. I told her I might and she said…well, she works there so she said she'd be there when I decided to come after her…" he said, red returning to his face while Frankie started to spark at the bolts.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked, Jackson looking more and more panicked. "Because she was nice. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if I made a new friend while I was here." He shrugged.

"Pretty sure she wasn't asking to be friends cuz'" Heath said, earning himself a look from Jackson. "Oh, right, sorry. Can't help it." Heath said sheepishly at having let slip that familiarity with Jackson. But Jackson shook his head and didn't say anything. "But she was asking you for a date." He said, stuffing his face when it seemed he was just digging himself in deeper.

"Dude, Frankie said you'd give her a chance to help you remember. Come on now." Clawd said as Draculaura attempted to comfort Frankie. Jackson nodded but didn't say anything. "So then, what should we do? Is, um, everybody else at the club right now? It's kinda early for dancing." He said.

Draculaura nodded, taking a bite of her food before answering. "They went to check it out. We figured it wouldn't be open yet but we might have needed to reserve spots or something so we came back to check. I think Cleo wanted to head up the slopes tomorrow so we were going to head back to town to cheer Frankie up…oh, oops." She said as Jackson looked curiously at her.

"It's almost my birthday." She started to explain, coming out of her frustrated state over the girl flirting with her boyfriend, even if he didn't remember being her boyfriend. "And you needed to be cheered up about that?" he asked, Frankie giggling at his tone before her smile fell.

"No. You and I were going to have a birthday breakfast and you missed it, like I told you earlier. I was disappointed and the girls were taking me here, there and everywhere to get me not to dwell on that." She honestly answered, feeling bad about that since it led to how Jackson was now. But he didn't seem to get upset, only shrugging.

"You can still go out with them. You don't need to hang around me." He said, finishing the last of his drink. Clawd and Draculaura looked at each other warily, expecting some sort of blow up from Frankie at Jackson's attempt to send her on her way. "Frankie…I don't remember you. _At all_. Don't spend this time leading up to your birthday trying to get me to remember. Go have fun and I'll be here still when you get back." He said, Frankie's eyes watering at the caring nature of her boyfriend.

"I will do what I want." She said, swallowing past the lump forming in her throat. Jackson laughed as he shook his head. "Now I know you've definitely hung around with Holt from time to time. That's his catchphrase." He said with a small smile.

"Why don't we let you two figure out what you want to do and we'll toss the trash." Clawd said, urging Heath to get up out of his seat as he recognized Jackson and Frankie having a moment. The elemental protested until he too figured out what his friend was up to, Draculaura reaching across the table to gather up all the trash.

"That was smooth." Jackson said as he laughed over his cousin's less than subtle attempts to blend into the background. Frankie giggled but nodded in agreement. "That's probably as smooth as Heath will ever be." She said with a shrug. "But seriously, I want to spend some time with you. I'll do my best to not be too much." She said with a smile, unintentionally grabbing for Jackson's hand and biting her cheek to keep from making a scene when he flinched away. But such a whirlwind of emotions left her with an overloaded charge, sparks jumping from her to Jackson. He jumped up as he registered the discomfort from the jolt, knocking the chair back as he tried to recover.

"Oh my ghoul! I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She said, but she kept sparking and sending more jolts his way. Jackson flinched with each one, holding up his hands in a way Frankie understood as asking her to back up. She gave a small whine as she did as he asked. "I'm really so sorry. It was an accident. I didn't hurt you too much, did I?" she asked, Jackson shaking his head but refusing to say anything. "Jackson?" she asked, taking a step forward only to feel hurt when he took a step back.

"Frankie. I'm fine. Just…stop, okay?" he said tightly, Frankie nodding. "I'm sure you didn't mean it, but give me a sec. I don't remember getting shocked like that before outside of a mad science lab." He said as he righted the chair he'd knocked over.

"Oh, I do that all the time." Frankie rushed to say before realizing how that sounded. "I mean, not on purpose. Never on purpose. Well, sometimes on purpose but I didn't do it on purpose to you. Not this time. Oh, not that I do it to you all the time." She rambled, Jackson gesturing for her to stop.

"Frankie. Stop. I get it. It was an accident." Jackson said, looking to Clawd and Draculaura to come back over but they were talking with Heath over something. "How about you just go with your friends like you wanted to, alright? Um…I'll try and make it to the club tonight and you can get to talk to Holt like you wanted. Okay?" Jackson said, Frankie feeling her eyes watering up as he walked away from her.

"Heath!" she called out through the sobs when she realized he wasn't going to follow his cousin, gaining the boy's attention. She pointed in the direction Jackson had taken off in, spurring the elemental into following but she was sure that Jackson had probably given them the slip again. Draculaura walked over to her, wrapping an arm around her friend.

"It's okay. Just give him some time. He'll fall in love with you all over again." She said, Frankie taking deep breaths to keep from crying in the middle of the café. She walked out with her friend, Clawd having followed after Heath. "We'll call the girls and we'll figure something out. Don't give up. He made a date with you later, right? I thought I heard him say that." She said as she led Frankie to where she thought the others would be relaxing as they waited for them. Frankie looked to her friend in wonder over how she heard that from across the room. "Vampire Frankie…" she said, pointing to her ears, "…and I have a werewolf as a boyfriend." She said, Frankie giving a shaky laugh. It was true that Jackson had made arrangements with her before, but now she was wondering if he would actually want to make the attempt to keep it with her.

* * *

Clawd spotted Heath turning around in the middle of the floor, grasping at his hair. "You lose him again?" Clawd asked although he was pretty sure he already knew the answer and began to sniff around to see if he could pick up anything.

"You find him?" Heath asked impatiently, earning a sigh from Clawd. "There's more than just him in here Heath. Besides, the smell of smoke from you is all I'm getting right now so back up." He said, pushing his friend back from him. He gave a few more sniffs but not even he could pick up where Jackson had gone.

"Oh, man." Heath said, hanging his head at his inability to keep a handle on things. He was aware that sometimes things might have gotten a little too carried away thanks to him being around, but it didn't normally get to him. "Maybe he's looking for the others. He wanted to have a game, right?" Heath said, grasping at anything. "So he probably went down to the lobby again to find anyone he knows and ask around." He said, surprising Clawd as he took charge. At least until he wasn't watching where he was going and caught the edge of the upturned rug, landing face-first on the floor. Clawd shook his head but reached down to help his friend up, stamping out the flames that he had spread onto the rug. Heath sheepishly laughed as Clawd righted him before the two of them started to make their way back to the lobby.

"Hey, maybe Deuce and Gil have seen him." Clawd said. "I think they were heading to the arcade room to hang out for a while. That's what they said, right?" he asked Heath, although he wasn't sure his friend had been listening to their conversation at the end of their game, more focused on going after Jackson. But Heath nodded and they opted to check it out on the way to the lobby. Luckily it seemed that had been the case, Jackson talking with them around the pool table. Heath gave a relieved sigh as he pushed open the door, holding it for Clawd. Jackson gave them a small wave, pointing out their arrival to his friends.

"Hey guys. What took you so long? We already ate while we were waiting for you to show up Heath." Gil said, Jackson visibly sighing upon realizing that Gil also knew Heath. "Sorry Heath. But we've been hanging around here in case you came back." He said, worried that Heath might start complaining like he usually did when they'd gotten tired of dealing with his short attention span's detours.

"Not a problem." He said, brushing that aside quickly. "Have you talked with Jackson about his little deal he made earlier?" he asked, watching his cousin roll his eyes and return to his game.

"Dude, what's he talking about?" Deuce asked in amusement, but cocking his head to the side when Clawd didn't seem amused. His snakes hissed in apprehension, but he got them under control with a quick snap of his fingers, not sure why Heath and Clawd would be so upset. He turned to Jackson but his friend didn't seem too concerned.

"They're upset 'cuz I made a deal with Valentine." Jackson said, shooting at one of the balls and grinning when it hit the other couple of balls he'd been aiming at in just the right way. He leaned on the pool table when he noticed Deuce and Gil looking at him for more answers, but shrugged as if it was no big deal.

"Valentine slipped back into his old ways and now Jackson doesn't remember Heath or Frankie." Clawd supplied when Jackson didn't look like he was going to be forthcoming with more details to his friends. He was going to say more when the other guests who were in there got closer, the boys recognizing them as the students they'd played with earlier.

"Hey! Good game today!" One of them said with genuine cheer as they came over. "We might have to play another match before we all head home." He said with a smile, his friends nodding in agreement.

"Is this your backup player?" Another monster asked with a bit of humor as he looked at Jackson, the other boy not appreciating the tone he used. "Is no wonder you made him backup. No offense, but you couldn't have held up with how rough we play." He said, the others laughing.

"Hey, I'm pretty good. Just ask them." Jackson said in his defense, but he didn't sound all that definitive in his tone. "I'm sure if I'd gotten there on time, they'd have let me play." Jackson said. But all he got in return from the other school's students were half-hearted responses and shrugs.

"They were pretty intense, dude. You'd probably have another bruise – I know I do." Deuce said lightheartedly. "But yeah, he's pretty good. He was just talking about maybe setting up a lacrosse game if you want to have another go." He said.

"Thanks, but no. Not with him." One of the gargoyle students said. "Not to be mean, but I would not want to break him." he said, Jackson shooting him an incredulous look. "If you can convince him to be your cheerleader instead, we'd have no problem joining you." He said with the others' agreement.

Deuce turned to look apologetically at Jackson. "Go ahead. Not like I wanted to really do that anyway…" Jackson sighed, clearly hoping that one of his friend's might back him up more. Gil looked like he wanted to say something but the other students had already taken the opportunity and were already leaving with well wishes for any future game.

"Thanks for the support guys." Jackson sarcastically said, putting his pool stick away. "I know they backed you into a corner, but come on…your _cheerleader_?" he said, shaking his head.

"Sorry Jackson. That's how they played too – awfully pushy. But they didn't seem to be trying to be rude to us or to you. We can probably convince them to let you play for a little while." Gil said in an attempt to apologize to his friend, Deuce nodding along with him. "But maybe you might want to reconsider. I think they must be looking do hockey professionally or something 'cuz those hits into the wall were as bad as when the SKRM team got creamed." Deuce said, showing off the bruise he had going on his arm.

"That's not the point…" Jackson started to say before Heath intervened, walking over to wrap an arm around his cousin.

"No. It's not right. They didn't mean it and I'm sure…" He started to say before Jackson wrestled with him to get him off of him. "Heath, stop doing that. I really don't know you. Some boundaries, okay?" Jackson said as he backed away, heading for the door. "Although I think you probably don't have any for anybody anyway…" he said, stopped by Clawd.

"What are you talking about? Heath, what did you do?" Deuce asked, looking to the fire elemental with an accusatory stance. Heath gaped at how quickly he was cast at fault. "Hey. It wasn't me this time." He said. "Jackson made a deal with Valentine, like we said. He doesn't remember me or Frankie 'cuz Valentine took a portion of Jackson's heart." Heath said, eliciting a shocked response from the other two as they looked to Clawd, the werewolf nodding in affirmation. Jackson pulled himself out of his friend's hold while he was paying attention to Deuce and Gil.

"Yeah, he was feeling down and Valentine took the opportunity. Jerk." Clawd said, understating his true feelings, refraining from any more colorful language that he could use to describe the vampire. "We're trying to find a way to refill those missing pieces but it's hard when he's got nothing to go on." He said, Jackson struggling to keep Heath away from him in the background while the other three talked as Clawd filled them in on all that had happened.

"No! Would you stop?!" Jackson said, ducking under one of Heath's arms, the other laughing as he messed around with his cousin. "Do you always…ugh…." Jackson said, taking a seat in one of the cushy chairs that was set up around one of the television screens for games.

"Whoa…what's wrong?" Heath said, switching to concern at Jackson's mood swings. He approached his cousin's side, both relieved and anxious when he didn't immediately pull away. Jackson turned to look at him with a mix of emotions on his face.

"N-nothing. I'm fine." He said, taking a deep breath and patting Heath on the shoulder. "I'm okay. Just…felt a little funny. Assuming I do know you and you really _are_ my cousin…do you…do we…" he started to say, Heath's face lighting up.

"Yeah. All the time." Heath said, hair starting to flame up. "You're not that bad at tag, but I always catch ya." Heath said, Jackson giving a short laugh. "I bet. You are fast. But I bet Holt's the one that keeps you entertained…" he said, Heath not hearing how he was being set up.

"Oh man. Holt is awesome like that. He lets me mess around on his equipment sometimes and he can come up with all sorts of hilarious pranks. You remember that…uh, oh, what'd I do?" he said as he noticed the change in his cousin's expression back into what it was after the other students had left. Jackson shrugged, turning to Heath. "Nothing. You were just being honest. Hey, is it because we're cousins that we're rooming together?" Jackson said, hoping that Heath would go with the change in topic.

"Huh? Oh, no. I was rooming with Clawd but he said I snored so he asked that two-headed dude that you got assigned with to switch. Not sure that's a better option since he apparently talks in his sleep, both heads. But no more accidental fires when I wake myself up." Heath said with a laugh, Jackson smiling back at him. "You snore so bad it wakes you up?" he asked, Heath looking insulted at the question.

"I don't snore at all…just…I don't stay asleep for long and…um…" Heath said, attempting to give his cousin a good excuse. But Jackson shook his head with a small smile, letting Heath off the hook. Gil called Heath over, Jackson turning to see what they were up to, but made a shooing motion again to Heath to get him to go talk to the others. He had no doubt they were probably planning something involving getting him to remember and figured that it would probably be for the best if he just let himself be surprised rather than getting all worked up over something he was going to have no say in at all apparently.

"Guys, I'm gonna head to the vending machine to get a drink." Jackson said, Heath looking warily at him. "I know, I know, I just finished one not that long ago, but I've been really thirsty since you dragged me out of the sauna. I gotta get another drink." He said, finding it oddly touching that his friends and his supposed cousin were looking a little concerned. "I'll be fine. Don't go anywhere and I'll be back in a minute." He said, walking past them to head to the vending machine.

But being alone with his thoughts seemed to cause him only to dwell on what had most recently happened. He thought he could hear Holt commenting on something with those whispers that sometimes filtered through, but he shoved that aside. Walking up to the vending machine he quickly got himself an iced tea, leaning against the end window and taking a few sips.

"I suppose I should have mentioned that potential side-effect." Valentine's voice drifted over to him, Jackson nearly having his drink come out of his nose in his surprise. Valentine chuckled as Jackson wiped the bit he'd spilled, glaring at Valentine.

"Do you have to do that whole, silently lurking thing?" Jackson said, covering the bottle. "How come we keep running into each other? I don't think our paths cross quite this much on their own." He said as Valentine sat next to him on the windowsill.

"Well, a certain doggy made it clear that they weren't too pleased with the kind of help you asked for. So I thought I'd find you and make sure you were doin' just fine." Valentine said, eyeing Jackson. "Other than feelin' a little more parched than normal, you been satisfied?" he asked.

Jackson sighed, debating on how he should answer, but the look from Valentine practically compelled him to be completely honest. "Well, at first I seemed great. Even with Heath and Frankie after me at all times of the day, I felt lighter and not so worried. But…their attempts to remind me and running into the others…it happened again. I…I'm not sure why it's bothering me. Maybe because there's nothing to compare it to…but when the guys didn't catch on to how I wanted them to stick up for me a _little_…" Jackson trailed off shrugging.

"But somethin' must've been right. I can tell. You've been working to rebuild those missing pieces pretty efficiently in such a short amount of time." Valentine said. "I'm always here if you think you might want to, maybe…take a little more and get rid of _all_ that's botherin' you." He said, but Jackson gave a sharp laugh.

"And not remember anything? No…can you imagine how badly Holt would react? No." Jackson said, but he did look like he was thinking about it. Valentine shrugged before standing up. "Well, then, get your friends to stop blaming me for this mess they got themselves into for me, would you? And you might need to wipe that shirt…" he said, poking Jackson in the chest and getting him to look down and see he had spilled a little on himself when he'd been startled.

"Hey! Get away from him!" Heath's voice shouted, Valentine turning around as the rest of the guys were exiting the arcade from down the hall. "Get your hand away from him…did you take more?!" Heath said, making to go after the vampire before Jackson stood up and intervened. Jackson turned to Valentine to get him to explain, but the vampire took the opportunity to bolt before Clawd could get too close.

"What happened? How much more did he take?" Heath said, placing a hand on Jackson's chest as though he would be able to tell somehow. Jackson shoved him away, sighing at the fire elemental's overreaction. He was about to say something but the others had by that time already joined them.

"We need to get you back to Frankie and the others if he took more." Deuce said, earning a frustrated groan from Jackson at their impatience in letting him speak for himself.

"No! I've had enough. I don't want to go anywhere with you guys right now. Just leave me alone." Jackson said in anger, trying to brush them off to give himself a real chance to just take a break from all the craziness he'd suddenly found himself in. But that seemed to make their reactions even worse, Clawd holding onto him more firmly to keep him from storming off.

"Oh man…he doesn't know you guys now either…" Heath groaned, his hair aflame in his panic. Unfortunately, he set off the sprinklers, triggering the alarm. Clawd winced at the high-pitched wailing and his grip loosened enough that Jackson pulled away and made to run. But Deuce was faster and ran after him, pinning him to the wall as he accidentally slid on the water on the slick hardwood floor.

"Ah….ah….get off…" Jackson pleaded to his friend, clenching his eyes shut as his bruise made itself known as he fell into the side of the wall. Deuce worked to right themselves, keeping his hold on Jackson as he made sure that his glasses weren't going to fall off. "Sorry dude. Trust me, you just need to stay with us." Deuce said, Jackson groaning but not saying anything else. He opened his eyes and rubbed at his arm, grimacing as he was sure he'd be sharing a bruise to match the gorgon.

The hotel was being evacuated as the alarm continued to wail, Heath looking incredibly guilty at this particular stunt of his. "Okay, okay…" Jackson said, taking a few slow steps as he walked away from the wall before taking off at top speed into the crowd of guests. "Jackson! Wait!" Deuce shouted, tempted to turn everyone to stone so that he'd be guaranteed to get to Jackson too, but knew that was not the brightest move.

"How are we gonna fix him now?" Gil said, not minding the indoor shower as much as Heath and Clawd seemed to be uncomfortable. They looked around to try and spot him as they joined the guests outside, spotting the girls not too far away thanks the various shocks that came from Frankie that gave her a wide berth from the other guests as she apologized to them.

"Frankie…we may have a new problem." Clawd said as they walked over, Heath doing his best to explain what had happened to the manager. Frankie groaned at the news, the other girls looking upset over the news since they had most likely already been filled in on everything that happened.

"Valentine came back." Gil said with an exhausted look. "It looked like he might have taken some more and Jackson took off into the crowd before we got a chance to really talk to him." he said, Frankie gasping at the news.

"So, does this mean he's forgotten all of us now or just you guys?" Cleo asked as she tried to keep up, reaching out to lean up against Deuce. Her boyfriend shrugged in response. "He didn't say anything about it, but he didn't want to stick around with us. But that could be because we ran into the students we played with earlier and Jackson had a hard time convincing them that he wasn't incapable of playing a game of lacrosse…" Deuce said, not sure where to go with that train of thought.

"Alright. Well, once we're all back inside after Heath's done explaining, we can find Jackson and figure this all out. He has to head back to his room sometime, right?" Clawdeen said, playing with her wet hair to try and fix it. "Maybe we can talk with later." She suggested, earning a gasp from Frankie. The group continued to stand outside for a little longer while the guests began to make their way back inside.

"What if he met up with that girl he was flirting with earlier?" Frankie asked to Clawdeen. "Jackson might be refilling that portion of his heart Valentine took, even if he took some more, but what if there isn't anything there anymore for me?" she worried, Ghoulia giving a comforting moan as she patted her still-sparking friend on the back.

"That's not possible Frankie." Draculaura said as they made their way back inside. "You have a way of finding a place in everyone's heart." She said, earning a laugh from Frankie at how mushy that sounded to her and the others. "Just let him actually have that moment of solitude he keeps asking for and he'll be back." She said confidently, the others giving her an encouraging nod as they prepared to go find their missing friend.

* * *

Jackson found himself finally able to take a moment without feeling pressured into trying to apparently remember whatever his friends were after for him to remember. But Valentine had been right about having done something since he'd agreed to their deal, remembering the feelings of warmth that came from being around Frankie and even when wrestling with Heath in the arcade. But he wasn't sure that had anything to do with what they kept telling him was reality, his own memories seeming to be secure enough for him to want to get away. His friends' most recent lack of faith in him had been disappointing, but as he had said with Invisibilly, those things would occasionally happen so he did his best to just shake it off and move on. He entered back into the lodge even though he knew that he was likely going to run into the others sooner this way, taking a seat on one of the couches only to find that it was till damp.

"Oh come on…." He heard a girl's voice say, looking over to see that the girl he had spoken with earlier was working on getting the fire in the fireplace started again. He pitied her efforts, knowing that damp wood like that would be hard to get going again. He watched as she dumped a good portion of flammable liquid used for barbeques onto the wood before reaching for the match box and started to try and successfully strike the match.

"Wait! Don't do that!" He said, startling her into breaking the match. She huffed and threw her hands up in the air. "Thanks. That was the last one in that box. My cousin won't like that it'll take me longer to get it going again." She grumbled to him as he walked over to her. "Good thing you're cute." She said with a sigh as she made a face at the stuff she'd gotten onto her hands. Jackson blushed but stopped her from just rushing off.

"Wait. You've got that stuff all over your hands. If you actually did light that match, you'd have burned yourself pretty good not to mention the trail that's on the floor. Then we really would need the fire department and ambulances." Jackson said as he handed her the box of damp tissues on one of the tables for her to use. "Here." He said, mopping up the stuff on the floor with some tissues before concentrating on his limited elemental abilities and shooting a small flame onto the logs. Immediately they burst into a large flame from the stuff she'd put on it, the two of them backing away a little from the fire until it died down.

"Thanks. Wow…" the girl breathed out, unintentionally clenching her hands as she realized that could have been her hands. "Um…Sorry for snapping at you then. Jackson, right?" she said, smiling to him. Jackson nodded and blushed at the fact that she'd remembered his name. "Yeah, Lisa?" he guessed with a bit of a wince as he tried to recall her name.

"Lily, but close. Lily Lanyon" She said with a laugh as Jackson stammered out a polite apology. "Good thing you were here. I'm only helping out this weekend since I got to get out of afternoon classes to help out the family business…but I might be more of a hazard in case you couldn't guess. I do better when I help out in the club but that's not for a while or so." She said, checking her watch and shrugging out of nervousness.

"Oh, um…that's nice of you I guess. I have my own cousin that is after me today too it seems." Jackson said, looking around the room to make sure that Heath hadn't found him just yet. Lily laughed at that, Jackson turning to face her again.

"Well. I hope I'll see you later at the club. You can help make sure I don't burn the place down." She said. "How'd you do that? You some sort of wizard? You _look_ human." She said, Jackson rushing to answer her observation.

"Wizard? No, must be the glasses that made you think that. But Mom's the monster…oh, I didn't mean she's, well…um…" Jackson started to say as Lily began to laugh again at his choice of words. "Mom's a fire elemental but my dad is human, with a few quirks of his own." Jackson rushed to say, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Got it." Lily said with a smile and nod of her head. "What kind of quirks? Being married to a monster count?" she asked with humor in her voice as they continued to stand in front of the fire. Jackson looked hesitant to answer but the girl continued to stand there as though finding his tentativeness to be cute. "Well, um…ever hear of a Mr. Hyde?" he asked, wincing as the girl's eyes widened in recognition.

"The temper-tantrum monster that killed all those people in London way back when? The one whose friend died of shock just on seeing him transform?" she asked, looking more warily at Jackson. Jackson franticly gestured in the negative, hoping not to scare her off and really make his day a continuation of more downs than ups. "He was my great-grandfather. And he didn't actually kill, well, it was more complicated than him just murdering random people. That was Jack the Ripper. But…ugh…" Jackson said, smacking his face with his hand only to abruptly pull away when he'd aggravated his bruise.

"Okay. Um. If you say so…" Lily said, Jackson watching her work to hold herself together. "Um, I should get back to helping out. S-see you around." She said, hastily walking off and leaving Jackson standing there. Jackson considered what he should do next, Valentine's offer seeming more appealing at this point. But Heath's shout to him made him groan as he realized his schedule wasn't going to be up to him. He sat back on the couch even though it was still a little damp, rubbing a hand across his chest as he thought about possibly finding Valentine once he was able to get away again.

"Hey, you okay?" Heath asked. "You didn't forget about my efforts to get you to remember, did you? I'd hate to have to reintroduce myself _again._" Heath said as he sat next to Jackson, pulling the other's hand away from his chest as though to inspect his cousin for more damage. Jackson sighed but made the impulsive decision to just go with what everyone had been telling him, especially since his conversation was one he'd never really gotten that sort of reaction from at the mention of his family's hereditary curse. Looking to Heath, he launched himself at his cousin just to see if Heath would be able to keep up the act and make the effort to help him out when what he'd told him in the arcade room made it seem like he preferred Holt's company.

"Holy Smokes! He broke you!" Heath said, wrapping his arms around his cousin in concern, rubbing Jackson's back awkwardly. Jackson sighed but was comforted by Heath not shoving him away out of their manly hug like he'd expected. "It hurts…" Jackson said to him as he pulled away, Heath's face taking on an expression of panic at that. "Why are elementals and other monsters not thought of as horrific to the humans around here, but at the mention of a Hyde they look at me funny like I'm gonna, when they least expect it, turn into a raging, murdering, maniac? That's not the whole story. You know that, right?" Jackson asked as he looked to Heath for answers, dreading what he might say to him.

"No. Of course I know that." Heath said sympathetically, leaving a hand on Jackson's shoulder. "Jackson, what made you say that?" he asked, but Jackson just shook his head. "Okay. Let's head back to our room then and you can tell me there." he suggested as he guided Jackson off the wet couch. As they headed back, he saw Lily talking and gesturing to an older gentleman, doing a double take when she realized that he had seen her. She tugged on the man's sleeve to point him out, Jackson looking away and letting Heath drag him away.

They were quickly back to their room, Jackson sighing again at how it seemed like that's where he was spending the majority of their trip. "Come on. Talk to the Heathster and you'll feel better." Heath said with as much of his usual attitude that he could muster, rewarded with a small smile from Jackson.

"Maybe in a minute. I'm not feeling so great right now." Jackson said as he crawled onto the bed. "I just don't understand everything that's going on." Jackson said as Heath sat on his bed looking unsure of what to say. "But thanks for looking out for me. You don't have to stay. I'm just gonna take a nap I guess." He said, letting his eyes close as he got comfortable. It had been nonstop for him practically all day and Jackson realized he couldn't actually blame it all on Holt. He felt himself drifting off when he processed himself being gently turned over onto his back and moved up onto the bed more from where he'd let his legs dangle off.

"Jackson?" Heath whispered, but Jackson wasn't up for talking, hoping Heath might let him sleep. But he felt the bed dip a little near him and a sudden warmth spread along his side, Jackson realizing that Heath was lying next to him to keep him company. "I'm sorry cuz'. We didn't mean to make it worse. I shouldn't have let you fall into Valentine's trap. I should've looked for you last night when it seemed like you'd disappeared. I thought you were just being your moody self and needed some space." Heath began to talk to him. "I know you don't want to listen to me when you're awake, but you're tougher than this. Valentine may have said he'd take those hurt feelings of yours away, but he couldn't do that without taking the good stuff too." Heath continued to say, sighing a little. "Don't get too comfortable with this fantasy of yours. The Heathster's gonna get you back to your good old self, er, selves. Holt probably might be having the same problem but we'll find that out later. You rest up and this'll just be a nightmare." Heath finished, Jackson forcing himself to keep his breathing even when that warmth spread to his chest. He wasn't sure if that was Heath checking on him or if something else was happening. Heath had been more than helpful to him in constantly keeping tabs on him even when he didn't want him to, something Jackson vaguely thought was probably his job with his cousin. He gasped as he realized he'd thought of him as his cousin without the lingering doubt.

"Jackson? What is it?" Heath said, shaking his cousin gently. Jackson opened his eyes, hand coming up to his chest as he realized that Heath hadn't been resting on him like Frankie had insisted on doing for a little while when it was just the two of them. "Jackson?" Heath asked again more worriedly when Jackson ran his hand under his shirt to feel for where the warmth had been. Jackson turned to look at Heath with a reassuring smile.

"It's okay Heath…it felt warmer. I think…I was remembering the echoes of feelings there." he said as he thought over what had happened. But Heath looked incredibly happy, giving a quick fist bump in the air to emphasize his happiness before placing his hand on Jackson's chest. "I can't tell if there's a difference, but that's got to be something positive. Can you tell me what I did so I can do it again?" Heath asked, Jackson laughing and letting Heath's hand linger for another second as he felt for his heartbeat. "Just keep talking. I'll listen." Jackson said, closing his eyes and falling asleep to Heath's stories about himself, his friends, him and Jackson and him and Holt, and the occasional mention of Frankie.

* * *

Frankie received a text from Heath that Jackson was taking a nap in their room and for her and the others to meet with him out in the hallway so that they could talk. She and the others quickly did as Heath asked, lingering in the hallway despite them taking up most of the room.

"He remembered you?" Frankie asked Heath, looking as though she wanted to ask him to open the door and let her inside. Heath gave her a so-so motion with his hand before he provided them with any more details. "He said he remembered echoes of feelings that had to do with me. I dunno if that's progress, but Jackson seemed happier afterward. He asked me to keep talking about everybody, which I think is an improvement over 'leave me alone'." He said. Frankie looked like she wanted to say more but the door opened behind Heath and a sleepy-looking Jackson stood in the doorway.

"Whoa…party out here." He said with a yawn. "What's everybody doin' out here Heath?" Jackson asked, Heath turning to look at Frankie with an 'I told you so' expression at Jackson's less hostile attitude toward him. "Oh, hey...you mentioned wanting to go to a club earlier, right?" Jackson said to the girls, Frankie nodding instead of just letting her mouth start running.

"You up for that? Do you still remember all of us?" Lagoona asked, but Jackson looked at her in confusion. "Yeah…" he said slowly as though waiting for her to follow up with something else. "The knock to my head didn't do any damage to my memory." He said to her, seeing her and Abbey for the first time that day.

"But should still have put ice on it. Ice always make better." Abbey said, earning a laugh or two from the others. Jackson smiled at Abbey. "Of course Abbey. I've been a little busy today though. If you guys still want to head out, I'll meet you there in a few minutes. Still need to fully wake up." Jackson said.

"Maybe you want to get something to eat too?" Heath suggested, trying to keep things normal for everyone while also catering to his own insatiable appetite. Abbey rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, but Jackson just shook his head before turning back inside the room.

"Heath, have you seen…" Jackson started to ask, his cousin taking the opportunity to be able to have a little more one-on-one time to regain Jackson's memories. Heath shot a quick look over his shoulder, Abbey picking up on what he was asking.

"Come, we wait down the hall. Be giving them moment or two." The yeti said, pushing her friends away and practically having to force Frankie to move away from the door. "Jackson doing much better. Heath say so. You can get his memories back soon." She said with an encouraging nod. "Maybe we all go up mountain tomorrow and work to fix this. Is better than nothing." She said, Frankie sighing but nodding at Abbey's suggestion.

"And we can set this up so that you and Jackson can have a quiet dinner together." Cleo said, Clawdeen and Draculaura's eyes widening as they started talking about all sorts of ideas for making things romantic for their friend. Frankie appreciated their efforts, attempting to put on a genuine happy smile to keep her mood up.

Lagoona chuckled at Frankie's usual energetic spirit, seeing how she had looked moments before as though her batteries were on low until Jackson had reappeared and confirmed Heath's optimistic attitude. Ghoulia started making attempts to help Frankie with a new updo before all the girls shouted out a quick goodbye to their boyfriends as they pulled Frankie to the elevator to head back to their room. "Oh, it'll be just like your first date all over again." Lagoona gushed as she waved to Gil.

"I hope not. That didn't go so well." Frankie said as they rode in the elevator, thinking back on how she'd attempted to get to know both sides of her boyfriend without actually knowing that the two boys she liked were actually one and the same. "And it was a little rough starting all over again too…" Frankie said, getting a little more worried about how she was going to present herself after already scaring Jackson into taking flight from her earlier in the day.

"Not to worry. Leave it to us and it'll be as grand and romantic as it needs to be." Cleo said as she ushered them all into Frankie's room, not listening to her friend's protests. "Guys, this is Jackson we're talking about. Anything over the top is way too much – he finds pleasure in the little things here and there that we don't even notice…" Frankie said as she trailed off in thought.

Draculaura chuckled at her friend as she and Clawdeen started pulling out various items they'd gotten earlier when they'd gone shopping. "See Frankie…you know him well enough to get him to want to know you again. It'll be back to normal in no time." Cleo said as she and Ghoulia tried to determine what to do for Frankie's hair, Lagoona and Abbey arguing over what kind of makeup she should go with for the club. Frankie sighed and let her friends help in their own way, desperately trying not to get too anxious over the fact that she was attempting to go on _another_ first date with her boyfriend.

* * *

"I can't remember where I put the…" Jackson was saying when Heath walked back inside, rifling through his bag as he looked for something.

"Uh oh…what can't you remember now?" Heath whined as he walked over to Jackson, apprehension on his face. "You said nothing else was taken, right? So…" Heath said, watching Jackson dump out a bag.

"I can't find the medicine for my headache. I've got a monster of a headache right now, probably from all the stress from earlier. I thought the nap might help and it did, but it's still a bother. And if we're gonna go to that club after, you know Holt will be triggered and it'll be worse when I wake up again." Jackson explained as he lay out his clothes individually. "I thought maybe I could head it off, but I can't remember if I put that extra strength stuff in this bag or if I left it on the bus or…" Jackson trailed off but Heath caught onto what he was looking for.

"Oh right. You need the heavy duty stuff for it to actually work." Heath said, reaching for his own bag. "Yeah, you took some on the bus to sleep through the ride and keep Holt from crashing the bus before we got here. You gave it to me after when we were finding our rooms 'cuz you thought I might need a dose to get to sleep with all the excitement and what not…." Heath explained, pulling out the bottle for Jackson to take.

"Well, that explains why I couldn't remember what I did with it." Jackson said, taking out a pill to break in half to take. "So these are what made you snore then?" he asked.

"Yes. That's it. This did it. Absolutely." Heath said, nodding emphatically at Jackson's suggestion. Jackson laughed at Heath's response, the fire elemental feeling much better at his cousin's more normal interaction with him. "I am definitely going to blame you. I don't snore. Don't know why everybody likes to pick on me." He said.

"Maybe because you set off the fire alarm?" Jackson sarcastically remarked, gaining an eye roll from Heath. "Or maybe because you burnt an entire swimming pool full of water?" Jackson said as he picked out another shirt, wanting to look a little more presentable for when he stepped out again.

"That was an _accident_ and I – wait…" Heath said, spinning Jackson around. "Do you remember that?" He asked with hope in his voice as he stared at Jackson. But Jackson returned the wide-eyed look and gently tried to pry Heath's hands off his shoulders.

"Um…I heard a little of your conversation when you came back about falling into a pool. Before I climbed into Invisibilly's room." Jackson said, Heath visibly deflating at the admission. "Why? Have you actually done that before?" Jackson asked as he returned to trying to quickly get ready to keep the others from waiting too long.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Heath said with a heavy sigh. "I have a bit of a problem with that…" he said, Jackson shrugging. "I can tell. But, I'm sure you'll figure it out. You'll be a 'master of the flame' in…" Jackson said before looking as though he was having a moment of déjà vu. Heath waited for him to say something else but his cousin simply shook his head. "Let's go. If you're ready, I'm ready." Jackson said, heading to the door. Heath followed but when they walked out, they were surprised to find the hallway empty. "I thought we were all gonna go together?" Jackson asked Heath who simply shrugged before pointing out their friends.

"What's up? I thought we were getting something to eat?" Heath asked as they walked over to their friends. "Or was there a change in the plan? Can we still get something to eat?" He asked, Jackson shaking his head at Heath's focus.

"The girls needed a minute or twenty to go get ready for tonight." Clawd said with practiced patience. "They wanted to get Frankie all ready for tonight." He said, pulling out his phone to see if either his sister or girlfriend had any estimate of how long they were going to be waiting.

"Why would Frankie need to change her outfit?" Jackson asked, but received only a smirk from Deuce in return. "Like you don't know dude. Or do you usually change your shirt three times a day too?" he asked, pointing out the noticeably more sophisticated-looking shirt compared to the polo shirt and sweater he'd had on before.

"I spilled on the last one…." Jackson tried to defend himself but he could see the others weren't buying his excuse, even if he had actually done just that. "Okay. Fine. Maybe I wanted to just look nice before we got to the club, as an apology for whatever Holt's bound to do." He said, Gil chuckling at his friend's attempt to change the topic.

"Whatever dude." Deuce said, checking the time again. "I think the café for a quick snack isn't exactly what the girls are looking for. Hopefully we'll be able to eat at the restaurant without making reservations…" he said, worried about his girlfriend's reaction if that were the case. But he also knew that she somehow almost always found a way to get around that potential snag in their plans, being royalty after all.

"So, any ideas what I'm in for?" Jackson asked timidly, Clawd patting him on the shoulder as the group decided to head to second floor to wait for the girls. "Don't worry. Frankie's sometimes over the top but she knows you." He said, Jackson sighing in response.

"That's just it. She knows me but I don't know her. It's been nothing but awkward between us when she'll say or do something because she already has all these expectations and I can't be the same guy she's looking for." Jackson said, sounding both frustrated and disappointed in not being able to keep up. "I don't have a lot of luck in getting or keeping a girlfriend. I think you already know how difficult Holt makes it to getting to whatever commitments I make. And now this is...is like a…a…first date that she's hoping for but she already knows me so anything I say in the usual small talk she's already heard and she was already upset that I was talking to another girl earlier and…and…" Jackson rambled, the other guys having a hard time keeping up with their troubled friend.

"Whoa! Slow down Jackson." Gil said to interrupt the rant, not sure if Jackson had stopped to breathe between thoughts. He and Frankie were perfect for each other in that regard, but none of them needed another issue if he should work himself up to the point of nearly hyperventilating.

"Yeah dude, just chill." Deuce said, Jackson smirking at the pun he'd thrown at him, even if he was only half fire elemental. "Believe me when I say I know drama with the girls and Frankie doesn't look to hype things up. If anything, she'll be just as anxious as you." He said, although that didn't seem to really cheer up his friend.

Jackson was about to voice more of his concerns to his friends when they saw the girls heading over to them. Jackson couldn't help the goofy smile at seeing Frankie having gotten all dressed up with the others, not sure if he could count it as an effort on his behalf or simply something she would do with her friends in preparation for their dancing plans later. Heath elbowed him in the side with a small snicker at his cousin's predictable reaction, but broke away from the guys to head over to Abbey.

Deuce was right in assuming that they were going to have some difficulty getting into the lodge's restaurant, but Cleo handled that smoothly and they were all inside rather quickly. As it was, there weren't very many guests there anyway, but they had to settle for a group arrangement. All except for Jackson and Frankie, having been all but pushed out on the deck by the others for some privacy, although having the others watching them for most of the time was hardly private.

"Sorry about that. The girls mean well…" Frankie trailed off, sending a sheepish smile to Jackson. But Jackson just nodded as if expecting that. "Yeah. I do recall a _few_ examples of that sort of thing." He said sarcastically, hoping to ease them into a lighthearted tone. But Frankie sighed and looked down. "Uh oh. What did I say? I…um…sorry? I'm not very good at this…I always say the wrong thing…it's just, I get…nervous…" Jackson said as he tried to backtrack.

Frankie sent him an understanding smile. "I know. But I'm nervous too. I mean, it's like we get to do a do-over and try and not do the same awkward stuff, but I don't want a do-over. I just want you to be you again and I know that sounds so awful, but I don't know what to say." Frankie admitted.

"Yeah. But at least you're letting me have a little room to myself." Jackson attempted to kid with her but Frankie shook her head. "I know it was too much, but it's worse than a break-up when you've got this whole other life in your head that doesn't include me at all. And I know you're just being nice; that you'd rather be talking with that normie girl or any other girl than one that keeps sending shocks your way… and losing limbs." Frankie said as her hand disconnected as she was gesturing with them in her nervousness.

"Whoa!" Jackson said, eyes wide as Frankie's hand landed on his arm, looking unsure of what to do. Frankie gave a nervous giggle as she hastily reached over to grab it and reattach her hand while Jackson watched with wide-eyes. "Doesn't that hurt?" He asked as he recovered from a shock of a different kind. But Frankie found that rather than sounding totally freaked out, there was also a note of concern in his voice.

She shook her head as she answered. "Not really. There's a tingling sensation like when you hit your funny bone when I lose it and then when I put it back on. That's the best way I can describe it, but it's not painful unless my charge is reversed or backed up at the time too." she said, Jackson looking more interested as she spoke.

"Wow. You're amazing." He said before realizing what he said and blushing, Frankie giggling at his unintended compliment. Jackson nervously laughed as well, relieved when the desert had finally arrived to give them something else to talk about.

"Hot chocolate seems to be perfect for a trip to a ski lodge." Frankie said as she stirred in the marshmallows. "How'd anybody ever think to make it like this? It's awesome." Frankie said, blowing on her mug.

"Well, um, the Dutch were the ones who made it popular in New York City when it was still Dutch. They'd have it along with beer and some tea instead of drinking the water straight and the practice stuck around even when the English started to bring in coffee so, um, it was probably an easy commodity to be picked up and carried out when European colonial endeavors headed west since it's not as complicated an item as say, tea, was at the time…easier to brew on the go…and um…sorry, rhetorical question, wasn't it?" Jackson said as he looked up to see Frankie smiling at him fondly.

"I don't mind. You're cute when you do that." She said as she watched him nervously dig into his own desert. "You talk in like, whole paragraphs when you get going like that." She commented before blowing once more on her drink and taking a sip now that it wasn't steaming.

"Oh, uh…" Jackson stammered out as he looked at Frankie. "You got a little foam…" He said, wiping at his own cheek. Frankie blushed and tried to follow where he was pointing out, but Jackson grabbed the napkin and leaned over. "Here. I got it." He said as he wiped the foam off her cheek, the two of them lingering a little longer than was necessary closer to each other. Frankie felt herself unable to keep from trying to close the gap between them, but Jackson nervously cleared his throat and leaned back, obviously unsure about how quickly his 'first date' was moving along.

"Aww…come on." The two of them heard, turning to see Draculaura with her hands over her mouth and eyes wide as she quickly pretended not to have been watching. Jackson blushed again while Frankie nervously laughed. "So much for privacy. Um…we should finish up and get going to the club. I figure you might want to say hi to your new friend." She said, feeling a little embarrassed with herself for trying to kiss Jackson so soon after he seemed to be willing to give her a chance.

"No. I don't think she'll want to say anything to me. Not after earlier." Jackson mumbled, earning a curious look from Frankie. Jackson could tell that she was silently asking him for more details, but trying not to seem too eager about getting him to talk due to her behavior before when he'd talked to this girl. "I helped her to not set herself on fire when she was relighting the fire in the lobby fireplace and we got to talking. She wanted to know how I could light the logs without the matches and so I told her about my mixed heritage and, well, she was clearly horrified to learn about my Hyde side." Jackson sighed, picking at his piece of pie.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jackson." Frankie said sympathetically, reaching over to gently touch his hand. Jackson smiled and took her hand in his, Frankie practically beaming that he hadn't pulled away this time. "I know how hard that can be. But normies see me and they expect a certain response and then I can sometimes get them to move on or be less uncomfortable. I know it must be hard when people see you and expect one thing and then learn about those less noticeable monster qualities." She said, holding his hand tightly.

"Less noticeable? Holt hardly goes unnoticed Frankie" Jackson said with a smirk, but Frankie rolled her eyes. "I was talking about your mother's scaritage, but you _are _right about Holt. I hope he doesn't want to have nothing to do with me either." She said, biting her bottom lip in worry. "I still need to thank him for his birthday gift, but I think I'll wait until he remembers who I am." She said, Jackson nodding along with her plan.

"Well, I can't ever say anything for certain about Holt's plans, but if he's got any sense, he won't be as stupid as I was earlier." Jackson said, as they got up after paying. "I'm sorry for being so difficult Frankie. I…I do think I might want to remember, but let's just take things slow. Okay?" He said, Frankie nodding before finally giving in and giving Jackson a hug. But unlike earlier, he didn't become hysterical and try and push her off. Instead he tentatively returned the embrace before motioning for them to head back inside, where their friends were sitting as though minding their own business.

* * *

"I'm sure you're over-reacting Lily" An early-thirties man said to the teenaged girl as she stood in front of him with a look that begged him to do something with her discovery. But he didn't seem to be able to find anything to get so worked up about as much as she did. "I can't kick him out of the lodge with him not having actually done anything wrong. In fact, you said he helped you." He said, trying to keep his younger cousin calm enough to carry on a conversation, his own patience at her side of the family's typical jumpiness. He sighed when it seemed like she was going to continue getting all worked up though as they stood off to the side of the empty club room while she and other employees were getting ready to open to the guests.

"No, that was the Jekyll side of him, but eventually we'll get to see his Mr. Hyde and I don't wanna be around to find out what he's capable of." She said, crossing her arms across her chest. "You know what happened to my great-great uncle when he saw him." she mumbled, her cousin pulling her into a comforting hug.

"Lily, that was a long time ago and he isn't _that_ Mr. Hyde. Come on, you said you liked him before." Her cousin said as he held onto his cousin for a moment longer. "And he must like you too if he confided that detail to you. Especially after he knew your name – but he might not even be aware of that part of his family history either. Give him a chance to explain." He said, pulling away to look into Lily's face, receiving an unenthusiastic response. He chuckled anyway as he recognized her reluctant agreement to do as he asked.

"Fine. But when I die, I'm so gonna haunt you as a ghost." She said, brushing past him to get to her work station. "This is _so_ not what I agreed to do to help you out this weekend. Getting out of class early on Friday wasn't worth it." She grumbled as her cousin simply shook his head and gave her a fond goodbye before walking out as guests started to enter. She gasped as she spotted Jackson enter with his friends, finding it odd that he'd be wearing earmuffs at the club, but then she'd seen all sorts of odd fashions around the lodge for both humans and monsters. She ducked out of his line of vision, hoping he wouldn't come over to see her, but wasn't successful as Jackson broke away from his friends and headed over to her.

"Lily? Um…I know you're there. Please come out and talk to me…" Jackson said, standing by the edge of the stage for the music. "Just let me explain." He tried again, looking over his shoulder briefly when Frankie called out to him. He waved to her, holding up a hand to indicate he needed a minute before turning back to Lily and taking the earmuffs off so as to not seem even more bizarre. Lily took a deep breath and came out from behind her poor hiding spot to walk over to see Jackson better.

"Look. I don't care what you have to say. I'm sorry I gave you the wrong impression earlier but if you could just stick with your friends, we'll all be happier." She said, gesturing to his group of friends that was getting drinks from the beverage stand. "I'll talk with you later if I have the time, alright?" she said a little softer as she tried to take her cousin's advice. "But I need to start the music now or I'm gonna get in trouble." She said, hurrying over to stand behind the equipment and use it as a barrier.

"No! Wait!" Jackson said, scrambling to put the earmuffs back on, but Lily had turned on the equipment. As Jackson and his friends expected, a flash of flame and an enthusiastic shout signaled Holt's transformation, the Hyde grinning at having awoken in a club for him to take advantage of and party. Lily stood ramrod straight as she watched Jackson transform, Holt noticing her staring. "Hey, there pretty thing…" he started to say with his typical flirtatious attitude and making to walk around to stand next to her. But Lily screamed loud enough for Holt to flinch before her eyes rolled back and she fell to the floor.

"Uh oh…girl down." Holt said, hurrying over to check on Lily. "I know I'm just that spectacular but this is a first…" He muttered as Clawd and Heath gently maneuvered the unconscious girl off to the side so that she wouldn't lie in a heap on the music equipment.

"Holt, what did you do?" Heath asked while Clawd tried to rouse Lily, the others coming to stand closer as they gained attention from the other guests. Holt shrugged in innocence. "Hey, it wasn't me man! I ain't what made her faint. I don't think so. All I did was say hi." Holt defended himself, looking confused at the whole situation.

"Okay, well, someone should probably go tell another employee or something so she gets some help. She's out pretty good." Clawd said, standing up from where they'd laid out Lily.

"I think that's already been taken care of." Frankie said as she walked over to Holt. "I saw one of the other employees rush out. I'm sure he'll be bringing back help." She said. Holt nodded, beginning to look concerned. "I ain't gonna get blamed for this, right? You all saw I didn't do a thing." he asked, looking to his friends. They nodded to him as he looked for support, the crowd parting a little to make way for help.

"Get out of my way. Move!" A man's voice shouted over the still-blaring music, Holt backing up as he tried to get away just in case he was going to get blamed. "Excuse me! Hey…" Lily's cousin said as Holt knocked into him. "Hey, do you know who I am?" he asked Holt in frustration at not getting through the crowd despite his manager's tag.

"Do you know who _I_ am?" Holt countered, throwing the man for a moment as he hadn't expected that kind of a response. "No…" he answered with a confused shake of his head.

"Then we're even so stop yellin' at me. I didn't do anything." Holt said, his voice taking on an edge of anger. Frankie placed a hand on Holt's shoulder, easing him out of the man's way. "Not the time Holt." She whispered to him, Holt giving her a confused look. But he stayed out of the way while Lily slowly woke up, keeping back while she was guided out with the help of her cousin. However, he couldn't completely stay away, darting over to the doorway to speak with Lily.

"Hey, you okay? I'm not a scary dude. Only with my mixes." He said, shooting her a friendly smile. Lily stared at him again, Holt panicking at the thought that she might collapse again, but her cousin's arms around her brought her back to reality. She nodded, clearly hoping Holt would leave her alone. "Okay, um…if you're feelin' better, I'll give you a real dance beat in here for ya!" he said with his unrestrained enthusiasm, giving her and her cousin a wave before sprinting away to join his friends while Lily left the room.

"Whoa…I can bring down the guests before I even get to the mixing table." Holt said in an attempt to kid with his friends. "But since I feel bad, I think I'll take over…" He said, starting to walk over to the table, not sounding entirely as though he was doing that out of guilt for scaring off the original dj.

"Not yet Holt. Too soon." Abbey said from beside Heath. "Let ice between you and girl thaw a bit before you get up there. She might not like you taking over." She said, Holt sighing but doing as she suggested even though he looked like he'd prefer to start playing around.

"Why don't you dance with me?" Frankie timidly asked, tapping Holt on the shoulder to get him to face her. She desperately hoped that maybe he somehow would have retained onto those missing pieces he'd had taken by Valentine, but he seemed genuinely surprised to see her.

"Can't deny a girl a dance." Holt said, guiding her to the dance floor. "What's your name Miss Fine? I'm Holt." He said as they started to dance. He saw as Frankie's face fell at the nickname and he gave a little growl of frustration. "What's goin' on tonight? I don't usually get off to such a rough start with everybody. Just ask my friends – everybody loves to hang around with the Holtster." He said, Frankie smiling a little at his normal boisterous behavior.

"No. It isn't you." Frankie said. "We've met before and I was really hoping you'd remember who I was." She said truthfully, unsure how to spring the news on Holt with the disastrous method she and Heath had gone about doing that with Jackson. But Holt seemed to be less hostile at the situation he was in when he heard that, giving her a smile.

"Me not remember? Did we meet at that concert the other night?" Holt asked as he got a little closer to Frankie as more people entered onto the dance floor. "I had a bit of an accident with a bright idea hitting me, literally…" Holt said, rubbing the side of his face where the bruise still lingered. "I might have gotten a little sidetracked after that. Can't believe I wouldn't try harder to remember you though." He said, Frankie laughing at his flirting with her. She was feeling better that she could convince Holt to want to get to know her again, this side of her boyfriend not so hung up about all the details. As much as she loved both sides' qualities, with how pertinent the need was to get him to remember how he felt for her, Holt might be able to accomplish that faster than Jackson.

"Well, I guess I'll have to remind you. I'm Frankie." She said, extending her arm to shake his hand. She impulsively decided to try and recreate the first date she went on with him as Holt to see if that would jog his memory, sending a small shock his way when he took her hand. She laughed as he registered the jolt, shaking it off and sending her a wide smile.

"Whoo…that's not something I'll be forgetting any time soon. You're one electrifying girl…" he said, Frankie taking the opportunity to let herself hold onto his hand a little longer. Holt didn't seem to mind, pulling her this way and that as they danced and laughing along with her.

"You want to get a drink?" Holt shouted to her after a little while, pointing over to the bar. "I'm not usually so quick to leave the floor, but I'm really thirsty." He said, Frankie walking over with him to the bar.

"It's not a problem. I'll get something too." Frankie said while they took a quick break. She tried not to look too worriedly at Holt, Heath and the other guys having mentioned that Jackson had said something about excessive thirst too. But with Holt's less constrained behavior, she thought it might be possible for him to let himself dry out before his other half kicked in and reminded him to take care of themselves. As they had their drinks, Frankie subtly motioned for the others to try and make their way over, but it seemed only Abbey had seen her efforts as she began to drag Heath over to them.

"Hey Holt." Abbey said by way of greeting, the other giving a nod of his head as he continued to guzzle his drink. Heath looked to Frankie to gauge her reaction to how Holt was, but she could only give him a sheepish shrug at not having told him anything yet. Abbey pulled her aside to give Heath some room to talk with Holt, staying close just in case.

"Hey, uh, that was something earlier." Heath said, receiving a small laugh from Holt. "You got that right. Girl fell faster than I could catch. Guess I'm just a looker…" He said with a shrug. "But somebody needs to turn that automated stuff off and get those mixes rolling for real. It's killin' me here."

"Yeah, I bet it's taking a lot out of you to stay put." Heath said with a laugh. "Um, okay, I don't know how to say this right so I'm just gonna let it out." Heath said, receiving a curious and wary look from holt.

"You might not know me but I...um…what I'm trying to say is I…uh, well, first off I like your style and all and you should know…" Heath started to say, leaning in to talk to his cousin but Holt began to back away from Heath with an uncomfortable-looking smile. "Ok. I appreciate the compliment and all but the Holtster doesn't roll that way. So I should be…" Holt said, looking around for Frankie.

"No! Holt…ugh…I'm trying to tell you I'm your cousin Heath!" Heath said, hair flaming up in embarrassment. Holt stopped and looked Heath over once more before seeming to contemplate what Heath had said to him. "Seriously? Man, I had no idea I had a cousin. That's so rad!" Holt said as he slung an arm around Heath's shoulder's. "I'm guessin' Mom's side of the family, huh? How come we never met before? I knew there was something she wasn't tellin' me. Always can tell – well, except for the whole Jackson thing for sixteen years." Holt rambled, his own hair flaming a little in his excitement.

"Well, uh, that's the thing…you did know, but you kinda…forgot." Heath said, waiting for his cousin to explode in anger at any minute. But Holt laughed at that, patting Heath on the back. "I'm serious. Jackson got himself into a sour deal and you forgot." Heath said, an expression of irritation on his face as Holt continued to just find it all incredibly funny.

"Okay, okay…that was good. But I'm glad to meet ya Heath. I'd call my parents to tell them all about our reunion but my phone's busted." Holt said, guiding Heath over to the music equipment, having exhausted all his patience. "Now how 'bout we get to some family bonding time and you help me set things up." Holt said, the question coming across as more of a statement as Holt started fiddling with the music despite the protests from the other employees. But the crowd's favorable response had them leaving Holt and Heath alone, Holt looking far too smug for his situation.

"Hey!" a girl's voice said after a while of Holt taking over, Lily storming over to her station. "You…you…you get away from there. I….I…I'll have to…I'll…" she rambled as she pushed Holt away. "Whoa…that's a lot of I's in that sentence. Makes you sound a little too caught up in yourself." He said as he kidded with her. "But good thing you're back up and at it. No damage done, right?" he asked, Lily frowning at him.

"You've done plenty of damage. This isn't your stuff." She said as she began to tinker with the equipment to get it back to the settings she'd started off with, Holt trying to get her to leave it all alone. "No, come on. Everybody's havin' a good time. You should try it – it won't kill ya." Holt said with a smile, trying to make himself not seem as threatening to her as she clearly thought of him as. Lily huffed at his efforts though, but paused in returning things to the way she'd have set them up.

"Just go away. You're not a real _person_ anyway so just back off." Lily said, standing her ground even though both Holt and Heath could tell she would have preferred to have bolted out of the room already if not for her cousin standing by the door to encourage her to face her fear.

"Excuse me? Not real?" Holt said, Heath groaning as he recognized Holt's temper starting to show up. Lily gulped but stayed where she was, Heath reaching out to Holt but the Hyde was focused on the girl he had been trying to be nice to. "You're an alter ego. You're just like some…animal and Jackson's worst parts so…" she said, getting worked up again but continuing to roll with what she'd started. "So go away and stop touching everything before you break something or hurt someone." She said, looking down to avoid Holt's look.

"Holt, let's go. She's a scared normie, just let her be." Heath said, Frankie and Abbey coming closer too as they and the others noticed what was going on. Holt seemed to shake with all the anger he'd had building up with each word Lily said to him.

"Listen – I ain't gonna have this discussion with some random girl I just met over how '_real_' I am or not. If anything, you…" he said, pointing at her and glaring, "…should consider me to be _very_ real when I'm _this_ close to you. Jackson is one thing but I'm just as capable of being my own person too and for most of my life, I thought I _was_ just me." He said, Lily looking more and more panicked as Holt continued to brush off Heath's hand. "But if you really must know how much of an animal I can be…then get the music back up, girl. The only animal I am is a _party_ animal." He said, working himself out of his funk as he bumped Lily to the side and started messing around again, a smile making its way back onto his face. Frankie and the others breathed a sigh of relief at that, Lily standing awkwardly next to him as he continued to try and talk with her, apparently making it his mission to prove her wrong about how 'real' he was. Eventually it seemed like everyone was getting more comfortable around each other, Holt successful in getting her to ease up and drop her guard more to enjoy herself. But she did insist on him letting her do her job, Holt begrudgingly letting her do that to go join his friends.

"Wow Holt. I'm impressed you handled that so well, dude." Deuce said when he joined them again on the dance floor. Holt just gave a shrug at his efforts before heading over to get another drink with Heath.

"Yeah, I can be so awesome it boggles the mind." Holt said, the girls rolling their eyes as he echoed some of Heath's typical statements. "I know, right? They just don't get how great we are." Heath said with a smile, Frankie laughing as the cousins seemed to be getting along almost as well as if Holt had remembered everything about Heath.

"But I am so thirsty, it's ridiculous. I bet I'm as bad as you two right now." Holt said to Gil and Lagoona as he downed another bottle. He rubbed at his chest a little too as though somewhat uncomfortable, catching Frankie's attention.

"Hey, you alright?" she asked once he'd finished his water, Holt shooting her a winning smile. He gave her a nod before taking a seat on one of the stools. "Yeah. Just felt like there was something I was supposed to have done. Not a problem - happens all the time. I usually let Jackson deal with that." He said with a laugh, but his words encouraged Frankie.

"Well…" she began, thinking up a plan. "You did mention you'd try and spend some time with me at breakfast as a birthday present." She said, not entirely lying since that was the truth. "Maybe if you're still hanging around, you and I can grab breakfast together tomorrow?" she timidly asked, but Holt seemed to be enthusiastic about the idea.

"Yeaah! I'll be there." He said, Frankie giggling at his exuberant attitude, the two of them dancing a little longer before Holt once again started looking over to the dj table. "Go ahead Holt. It's late and I'm gonna head back with the others, but you can go have your fun. I'll see you tomorrow morning." She told him, giving him a smile as he nearly sprinted over to the table. As much as she'd have preferred him to give her more of a goodbye other than the wave over his shoulder, she had to laugh at how eager he was to get back to playing with the music after he'd devoted much of his time to dancing with her.

* * *

Frankie was roughly awakened at four thirty by loud bangs on her door. She looked over to be sure that Abbey hadn't been woken up, but it seemed the yeti wasn't bothered by the loud noises. She quickly got up and pulled on the warm robe she had draped on one of the chairs, rushing over to see who was at the door. She gasped as she saw Holt through the eye hole in the door, hurrying to open it up.

"Holt? What are you doing here? Its four thirty in the morning." She said, rubbing at her eyes. "How did you even know that this was my room?" she asked, noticing that Holt's arms were full of snacks and drinks from the vending machine, no doubt his only option for his midnight munchies since the café wasn't even open yet.

"I asked around." Holt said offhandedly, making Frankie internally wince at how exactly he'd done that with most people asleep. Or at least they _were_ asleep before Holt got to them. "I wasn't up for sleep. I may have borrowed one of the mp3 players from the music stand and I only got until the battery runs down to be me." He said, pushing his way into Frankie's room.

"Shh! You'll wake Abbey Holt." Frankie whispered. "You're gonna get in trouble if the chaperones find out you're here. Oh no, _I'm_ gonna get in trouble. Holt, what are you doing here?" she asked again, tying the robe tighter to her and shutting the door.

"I'm doing what you asked." Holt said, holding up what he had in his hands. "But I need a bag of some sort if we're gonna get going in time." He said. "And while _I_ think that's a nice outfit on you, you might want to get dressed Frankie-Fine." He said, earning a confused and sleepy look from Frankie. "Come on, come on. I ain't got forever." He said, prompting her to grab her clothes and rush to the bathroom, a final warning to keep quiet and not wake her roommate. She quickly returned to find him stuffing his stuff into her dumped out purse, the contents all over her bed. She shook her head in frustration but didn't say anything, hoping that just by going along with things, she might be able to convince him that she wasn't exactly a stranger to him.

"Oh good. Come on." Holt said, tossing her the bag of food and drinks and pushing her to the door. Frankie let him take the lead, following him through the lodge to the top floor when he surprised her by opening up a window that was clearly marked for a fire escape. "Holt…what are you doing? You're going to set off the fire alarm and once was enough for this trip." She said, but Holt just reached back inside for her to follow. Frankie sighed but took his hand, letting him lead her out and then up. She was about to ask again what he was up to when he gently lifted her up onto a portion of the roof, climbing up after her. She could see what looked like a large blanket, which had been draped over one of the couches in one of the common lounge areas, spread out on the tiles.

"I couldn't carry it all in one go." Holt explained as he started to pull stuff out of her bag. Frankie watched in confusion as he set things up according to whatever plan he had in mind, using the light from his ignited hair to see what he was doing. "Just wait. We got only…five minutes or so." He said, pulling her down onto the blanket. Frankie made herself comfortable, taking the offered soda and waiting for Holt to tell her what was going on. But she didn't have to wait long to learn what his plan had been, as the sun started to rise up over the mountain, the angle of its rays reflecting beautifully off the snow and clouds in the sky.

"Oh, it's a beautiful sight." Frankie said, leaning into Holt's side as she watched the sunrise with him. "That's so sweet of you, Holt." She said with a smile as she turned back to face him, a look of happiness on his face at her being pleased with his surprise. She laughed at his eagerness to show her a good time, reaching for one of the pre-packaged goodies that he'd gotten as part of their 'breakfast', taking a bite out of the pastry.

"Can't settle for a boring meal out on the balcony though, huh?" she asked, Holt nodding as he also broke into the snacks. "Nah. Being higher up gives a better view. Private too." he said with a smile, Frankie blushing as he looked over to her.

The two of them stayed on the roof for a while, Holt scaring Frankie a few times in his inability to stay still and getting closer and closer to the edge of the roof a few times. But eventually his mp3 player did as he'd said and ran out of battery, since it had been used non-stop all night. Frankie laughed when Jackson shook his head to get his bearings, giving out a little yell to find himself on top of a roof. But spotting Frankie and their makeshift picnic, he figured out what had happened and sat next to her on the blanket.

"That's one way to get going in the morning." Jackson grumbled, laying back on the blanket. Frankie laughed but offered him a sympathetic smile. He yawned and put his arms behind his head as he looked at the view from where they were. "But it is a nice, quiet spot." He said, Frankie biting her lip to keep from mentioning how Holt had said something similar to her too.

"Hey, don't fall asleep up here." Frankie said when Jackson let his eyes close. "We'll need to be getting back soon." She said, Jackson sighing at her statement.

"Yeah, but…" he started to say before yawning, "…I think Holt must've pulled another all-nighter. He did that the night of the concert probably too. It's a bit of a drain when he doesn't remember we actually do need to get some sleep or we're gonna pass out – even if it's him out at the time." Jackson said, Frankie understanding what he was saying.

"He must've woken you up early too." Jackson said, patting the space next to him. "You don't have to make yourself uncomfortable. It's okay if you want to lay out on the blanket too." he said, genuine care in his voice. Frankie smiled and did as he suggested, making sure there was some room between them so that he wouldn't feel like she was overwhelming him again. But as expected, Jackson drifted off shortly and Frankie couldn't help herself, pulling herself closer to him. She watched him for a moment, debating on whether or not to immediately wake him when her phone buzzed, alerting her that someone had noticed her absence. Frankie picked up her phone to see it was Abbey asking if she was alright, finding the mess of things on her bed and her nowhere to be found. She responded that she was fine and that she and Jackson would be down to meet the others shortly when she heard Jackson shifting around in his sleep.

"Jackson? Come on. We need to get going." Frankie said as she shook him awake. "The others are looking for us." She said, packing up their stuff. As they started to climb down though, she tripped on the railing when the blanket shifted in her hold. She let out a surprised squeak as she expected to come crashing down hard onto the fire escape, but Jackson quickly caught a hold of her, pulling her to his chest to make sure she was alright. She held tightly to him as he gathered their things, hearing his heart beating faster at their little stumble so high up.

"Frankie? You okay?" Jackson asked warily. Frankie gave a small nod, but didn't let go. "Okay. Um…could you let go then?" Jackson asked, Frankie realizing that she'd been lingering against him for a while. She nervously laughed and pulled away, seeing a blush on Jackson's face too. "You sure you're alright?" he asked again as they walked back down through the lodge. She nodded but found herself too embarrassed to even mumble out a rambling comment.

"Well, then. I can walk you to your room if you want." Jackson timidly suggested, making Frankie sigh at his polite and caring nature. She smiled and nodded, the two of them heading back to her room, pausing as they said their goodbyes until later.

"I had a great time. With Holt and you. Thanks for the save." She said with a laugh. Jackson smiled and rubbed the back of his neck in his own nervousness. "You're welcome. I think we were both lucky – I can be pretty clumsy at times too, but then, I guess you probably already know that." He said with a shrug as he realized she'd know more about him when he was trying to flirt with her already.

Frankie smiled and nodded. "Yeah, but you're always full of surprises, you and Holt." She said, reaching up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss to his cheek quickly. He stammered a little, the goofy grin she found adorable making its way to his face. "You're still planning on going up the mountain today, right?" she asked, receiving a nod in response. "Then, I'll see you then. Bye Jackson." Frankie said, Jackson giving her a smile and a small wave before he left her standing there in front of the door. Frankie sighed and went to sag against the door at how perfectly the morning seemed to be going, but was surprised when it opened. She fell up against Abbey's waiting arms, Frankie turning to look in surprise at the rest of the girls also in her room.

"Abbey texted us that she woke up and you were gone, so we hurried to pick out our outfits and get here so we could go look for you but then she said you said you'd be coming back with Jackson and we thought it best to wait here." Draculaura rushed to say in one breath. Clawdeen rolled her eyes at the typical manner her best friend handled things. "We were worried about you Frankie, that's all. Draculaura here thought we'd need to go after you and couldn't decide which was her more rescue-worthy outfit." She said, the vampire shooting her an unamused look at being poked fun at, but Clawdeen patted her friend on the back. "You look great for getting dressed in the dark." The werewolf said.

"What is that supposed to mean? I do that all the time." Dracularua said in an equally teasing manner, but Cleo waved aside their playful banter to get Frankie to focus on telling them all the details of her morning.

"It seemed like Holt took the whole idea of Heath being his cousin better than Jackson though, right?" Lagoona asked while Frankie got settled onto her bed next to Ghoulia, her sleep-deprived state rivaling the usual look on her zombie friend's face.

"He handled it probably as well as he did the first time around. Holt doesn't linger on the details of anything too much like Jackson does." Clawdeen said, Cleo nodding in agreement on that part. "It might be why he didn't get upset when you told him about his missing memories…" she said, trailing off at the guilty look on Frankie's face.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Cleo asked with a roll of her eyes. At her friend's negative shake of her head, sparks briefly being emitted at the admission, the mummy shot her a disapproving look. "Frankie. Making him wait is only going to make things worse if you can't get him all together again before he learns about what happens from the others. Is he still out?" Cleo advised, having seen how well Holt could handle bad news or any news he wasn't particularly fond of. "If you can't get through to Jackson, maybe letting Holt just _feel_ what he felt for you before will get his heart in the right place again." She said with her typical flourish of her hand.

"I know, I know." Frankie said, Ghoulia patting her on the shoulder. "It's just. He wasn't saying anything about how weird it was for me to know him, but him not to know me, and it felt great just being with him as carefree as Holt is." She said with a sigh, Draculaura sending her a sympathetic look from where she sat between Clawdeen and Abbey on Abbey's bed.

"Jackson has this whole other life in his head and for someone to tell him, after having the bombshell of Holt dropped on him the way it was, that there's something else he's missing is just too much." Frankie continued, looking more and more gloomy than her over-the-moon state she'd been in as Jackson left her at her door.

"Jackson likes to work with the details. He's a scientist and wants to be able to find new discoveries. He'll come around." Lagoona said encouragingly. But Frankie shook her head to her sea monster friend. "But scientists are always looking for ways to quantify and replicate results. I can't provide him with any of those key details with the missing pieces that Valentine took because those memories provide the hard evidence he's looking for." Frankie said, grabbing her pillow and hugging it to her.

"Frankie…" Clawdeen said, "…just supply him with more memories and it'll trigger the old ones like music triggers Holt." She said, Frankie looking to her with an expression that oozed her displeasure at her friend's obvious comment, as though it was really that simple for Frankie.

"By the way, how did Holt stay out so long after he left the club? I heard from Deuce his phone was broken." Cleo asked, looking curiously at Frankie. Frankie smiled to herself at the answer. "He borrowed an old mp3 player from the club. Jackson's probably charging it right now as a backup in case he thinks he might need to be Holt or something. He does that sort of thing even if he claims to not need that side of him to ever handle things for him." Frankie said fondly, the other girls giving a mixture of eye rolls and sighs at hearing about Holt's latest theft.

"Seriously Frankie; your boyfriend may be developing a kleptomaniac problem." Clawdeen said. "You know, in addition to his other maniac problems."

"Then why not ask for Holt later on up mountain? Will be fun for everybody." Abbey said with a nod of her head. "Am not knowing why is taking so long for everybody to be taking trip up mountain. I spend most of day there yesterday and feel refreshed. Will be same for Jackson and Holt. Cold mountain air will wake them both up." She said, the others giggling at her apparently sage advice.

"Abbey, you either keep moving or freeze at the top of the mountain, love." Lagoona said with a shake of her head. "I don't think we need to go that far up."

"Ahh…not knowing what you are missing. Is good for you. Constant moving around keeps you fit and gives lots of time to think. Exactly what he be needing." Abbey said, another round of fond laughs at their friend's uniqueness.

"Jackson said he'd be joining us on the slopes today Abbey. Don't worry – you can show us all a few things while we're up there." Frankie said, yawning once more. "But I think we could all take another hour or so for a nap. Holt's sunrise breakfast was incredibly romantic of him. But unlike him, I'd like to sleep." She said, flopping back onto her bed and causing Ghoulia to fall back too. The zombie girl moaned to Frankie about not minding a little more sleep herself, her and Slo Mo taking a little longer to actually get back to their rooms when the elevators had been having a problem. Frankie moved aside a little to make room for the both of them on the small hotel bed, barely staying awake to say goodbye to her friends.

"Alright. You get some more sleep and we'll meet you in the lobby in an hour and a half." Draculaura said, getting up off the bed and urging the others out of the room. She thought about possibly nudging one of them awake to go sleep in the other bed so that they don't roll off, but Ghoulia and Frankie looked comfortable enough.

The five of them walked to the café to wait a while before waking their friends up, even if Abbey was impatient to get back to the more familiar environment of the mountains and snow. They talked about trivial things as they waited, among other plans on how to help their friend with their mission to get their friends back together again.

* * *

"Heath…" Jackson whispered as he entered the room, not sure if the other boy would be up yet since he had no idea if he'd been up as late as Holt apparently was. He tried to quietly sneak into their room, it not being very late in the morning and he was hoping that Heath would be sleeping in like most people of vacation might do. But instead of finding his cousin snoring away like he insisted he didn't do, he found the bed covers tossed about but no one in the bed. Curiously he continued into the room, taking his shoes off to climb into bed.

"There you are!" Heath's voice startled him as he came out of the bathroom, causing Jackson to spin around wide-eyed, hand to his chest in surprise.

"Don't do that!" Jackson grumbled, huffing in irritation at his cousin. But Heath seemed relieved to see him, making him feel a little guilty. "Sorry 'bout not getting back to the room last night but Holt had other plans." He said around a yawn, not bothering to wait anymore and slipping off his shirt. He fell onto the bed, not caring at that point to pull the covers over him.

"I figured something like that had happened. Especially after he took off for a while. Couldn't find him after that but it seems you're in one piece." Heath said, Jackson giving him a small laugh as he buried his face into the pillow. "Good thing too. 'Cuz I was just about to rush out after you…" Heath said, Jackson cracking open his eyes to look at his cousin disbelievingly.

"You were not. You just got out of bed." Jackson mumbled good-naturedly. Heath shrugged as he sat on the end of Jackson's bed. "So? Doesn't mean I wasn't then gonna rush out after you to drag you back." He said with a smile, looking a little sheepish at being called out for not noticing again that his cousin didn't make it back during the night. "Why did _I_ get stuck with dragging you back to bed after Holt's antics?" he asked his cousin, apparently oblivious to the fact that he was trying to get in some sleep.

"Well, think of yourself like Dr. Watson. Even Sherlock Holmes needed his best friend to go out after him and carry him back home after a rough night." Jackson mumbled, closing his eyes to try and just ignore Heath's bombardment of questions and unreasonable perkiness in the morning.

"Yeah, but wasn't that 'cuz Sherlock Holmes was doing…what? Opium or something?" Heath said, impressing Jackson that he'd picked up on that. Then again, Heath did hear only some details before his attention once again drifted off. "Who says you're Sherlock Holmes? Why aren't I the 'great detective'?" Heath asked, his usual cheekiness coming out. Jackson groaned and resorted to trying to kick Heath off his bed, the elemental laughing at his cousin's childlike efforts.

"Fine, fine. I'll talk to you later, _Mr. Holmes_…" Heath laughed. "But stay in one spot this time. Please? I'll be back after breakfast." Heath said, Jackson mumbling something incomprehensible as Heath left the room. But he left with a smile after hearing Jackson let slip the fact that he was considering Heath more and more like a best friend in his comparison of him as Dr. Watson.

Heath made his way to the café, finding the other pretty much all there already. He did notice that Frankie and Ghoulia were absent, as was Deuce. But he figured that the gorgon probably was still getting ready, Holt having called on him several times during the night for whatever reason. Heath felt a little bad for his friend when he'd basically passed his cousin off onto Deuce when he was getting particularly rambunctious for even the ever-excited fire elemental. But Holt had been trying to ask more about what sort of things to do that might impress Frankie, Heath not sure what portions of his plans he should tone down. Deuce had contributed to the conversation when Holt's plans started to get a little more fire-hazard worthy, sensing that Heath wasn't exactly going to be able to hold back his more wild cousin's attitude. Heath had no doubt that Holt had kept Deuce up for a significant amount of time, if not as long as he stayed up, getting him to help scope out areas the gorgon would be able to direct emergency personnel if Holt got overly carried away.

"Hey guys." Heath said as he sat down at the table, taking his breakfast with him and digging in as soon as he hit the chair. "Jackson's back and taking a quick nap in our room." He said, heading off their questions.

"We figured when Frankie got back not that long ago too. Holt surprised her this morning with a sunrise breakfast." Cleo said, blowing on her warm drink before taking a sip. "I guess he took Deuce's advice on dating last night. Of course he'd be able to tell him a few things after all I told him to do for our dates." Cleo said, Clawdeen rolling her eyes at her friend's typical way of taking credit for something. But she knew Cleo meant nothing bad by it.

"Frankie did seem to have had a good time and I'm sure Holt was happy with the way things turned out if Jackson was blushing the way he was when he walked her back to her room." Lagoona said, Abbey nodding in agreement at what their group had spied on that morning. "But then Frankie got all worried again because he doesn't remember yet. I thought what was lost was supposed to refill itself once he wanted to remember again?" she asked, looking to Draculaura.

The vampire shrugged, looking as though she wished there was more for her to say. "That is what Valentine said. But Frankie's right about Jackson wanting to try and piece things together himself. Holt just goes with whatever feels right but as Jackson, he can't just go with whatever some stranger tells him unless he can find the proof for himself." Dracularua said, doing her best to repeat what Frankie had told her and the others.

"Yeah, but Jackson does seem to be trying now. Enough people telling him that something's not right must be making him want to experiment a little to figure things out. That's just how he works." Clawd said as he sat across from Draculaura. "But I do think he's still waiting for someone to jump out and shout 'got ya!', like Manny or someone." He said, getting a sigh in response from Heath.

"But he's doing better with you now. He said it was like he was starting to feel like you and he were actually cousins, right?" Gil asked, Heath nodding as he finished up his breakfast. "Then whatever you're doing so far is working. Frankie and him obviously are gonna need to go about things differently. Familial, platonic, and romantic love are just different kinds of love." He said, blushing when Lagoona leaned against him with a silly smile at her boyfriend's words.

"So maybe if we let Holt run around a little more, Jackson might not be so wary of everything?" Abbey asked cautiously, not sure how bad it would sound to the others if it seemed like she was advocating one side over the other. But the others were also considering how much Holt could help Jackson too, Frankie apparently finding it to be the case that Holt might be the more willing to try and get to know her again.

"Yeah, except that Frankie didn't tell him yet. Doesn't want to either." Clawdeen said, leaning back in her chair while they waited. "I don't blame her for it, but at some point, he's gonna have to find out. Otherwise it could get ugly." She said, the boys nodding in agreement since it was usually them that ended up dealing with Holt's meltdowns.

That seemed to end their conversation about their friends, instead sidetracking into what they planned on doing for the rest of their trip, needing to be ready at the buses later on. The plan had been to simply get packed to go and then spend pretty much the entire day up the mountain as Abbey had incessantly suggested, going on about the skiing, snowboarding, ice sculpting and even the small ice rink she'd been able to build. At the questioning looks of her friends over how she could build an entire ice rink on the side of a mountain, she had shrugged at it as though it wasn't really spectacularly impressive. She had followed with a comment on how tiny it was, but the others weren't sure they'd ever completely understand the yeti's version of fun. Eventually, Frankie and Ghoulia came wandering over to them, looking a little less groggy and more enthused about the slopes.

"I suppose somebody should go wake up Deuce, or go see if he's ready yet." Cleo said, standing up and leaving to go do just that as Frankie and Ghoulia grabbed something to eat. "Maybe you should go nudge Jackson or he'll sleep until noon." Clawd said, Heath nodding and getting up to head around the corner and back to his room.

"Don't worry Abbey, the Heathster'll be back soon enough to keep you…" He started to flirt with his girlfriend, turning around and walking backwards as he spoke to her. Abbey rolled her eyes but was smiling fondly at her boyfriend's usual behavior, watching as he cut off what he was saying when he walked into someone. "Heath!" the others whined as the fire elemental stumbled a little with a nervous laugh before disappearing to go wake up his cousin.

"Let's hope he's not so jumpy with you two. Or with that girl that had that issue with Holt." Lagoona said. "Wonder what that was all about. She must've seen all kinds of monsters here. Holt's not that strange compared to humans."

"Yeah, but if you're not used to that sort of thing and not expecting it, Jackson's transformation into Holt can be quite a sight." Draculaura commented, Frankie nodding along in agreement as she thought over her own surprise at seeing the transformation at the school the first time.

"Well, let's focus on what we're gonna do first once we get up the mountain. Do we hang out at the ice rink Abbey built, try some skiing, or do we want to take it easy and take in the sights first?" Clawdeen mentioned, spurring a new conversation until Cleo and Deuce returned. The gorgon still looked a little sleepy but his girlfriend was continuously talking to him to keep him from nodding off again, his choice of warm clothing clearly showing signs of Cleo's touch.

"Come on, come on." Heath's voice was heard urging someone on, he and Jackson also joining the group. Like Deuce, Jackson still looked groggy, although his friend seemed to have gotten at least a few more hours sleep than he did.

"Dude, Holt was a gigantic pain last night." Deuce said as Jackson slumped in one of the chairs around one of the larger tables that the group had essentially claimed as theirs for the morning. Jackson groaned a little at the mention of his alter ego, rubbing a hand across his face to keep himself awake. "Holt was hounding me for all sorts of things last night. I think we went just about everywhere around the lodge as he looked for whatever he was putting together. I barely was able to get him from sneaking off with something from the club." Deuce said with a yawn, Cleo gently shoving him to remind him to be polite and cover his mouth.

"You only think you did." Frankie said with a little smirk. "Holt was only able to stay out because he borrowed an old mp3 player, or did you forget about his broken phone?" she teased him while Deuce shot an unamused look to Jackson. Jackson gave him a sheepish shrug. "Sorry Deuce. Holt's pretty good at getting to do whatever he wants. I'm sure it wasn't meant to get you into trouble too. I've been charging it anyway." Jackson said, a grateful look spreading across his face when Heath handed him some caffeinated beverage to help him wake up. He took it and quickly drank a large portion of it, Deuce already with one of his own.

"How are you able to charge it if it isn't yours?" Gil asked his friend with a curious look. Jackson took another sip before answering. "I usually take a bunch of chargers for electronics that I used to own. Typically Holt either buys or schmoozes his way into getting another one unless it suddenly grows legs. It's not that frequent, but if he's especially impatient, I like to be prepared to actually use or return my surprise presents in the morning." Jackson grumbled, Clawd chuckling at Jackson's grumpy mood. He knew it was partly from being sleepy still, but he wasn't as hostile about Holt's inconveniences than he had been when they'd first discovered each other.

"Do you have it with you now?" Frankie asked, trying to sound less like she was leading up to a more important question having to do with Holt, but the others heard the apprehension in her voice. "Yes…why?" Jackson asked, looking over at Frankie a bit nervously.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't give it back right away." Abbey intervened, redirecting the expected glare from Jackson away from Frankie. "Only in case you be needing him for something. Mountain can be pretty unpredictable at times. You never know – is just for 'just in case' moment." She said. Jackson continued to simply look at her strangely before just shaking his head, aware of what his friends were trying to subtly suggest.

"Fine. But not until much later." Jackson mumbled in a quieter voice. "Let me be _me_ for a little while. I did just wake up." He said, finishing up what little remained of his breakfast. Heath sighed in frustration. "We didn't ask you to go away for the day Jackson. Just like Abbey said. It's only in case you think Holt should be out for, you know, whatever." Heath said, hoping he sounded convincing enough to get his cousin to stop brooding.

"Holt has gotten you out of some situations too." Frankie said, although providing concrete examples that didn't involve questioning of the methods to his madness were harder to come up with than she thought. But Jackson seemed to agree with her, pulling out the mp3 player to check the battery level.

"I didn't mean right now!" Frankie rushed to say, reaching out across the table to grab ahold of Jackson's hands to stop what she thought was his triggering of his alter ego. Jackson looked up in surprise, Frankie blushing a little at her outburst.

"I wasn't planning on it." Jackson said, slowly pulling away with a blush of his own on his face, the others chuckling a little at Frankie's usual overreaction to something she was worried about. "I was making sure that there was enough battery for the whole day. But I can't wear the usual headphones if I'm going to need a helmet too at some point." He said, pocketing the device.

"Well. We worry about that later." Abbey said, standing and urging the others up out of their seats too. "We need to go catch ride up ski lift or will be doing nothing." She said. Heath seemed to share her enthusiasm, even if they were heading to a colder environment.

Getting to the ski lift was relatively easy, Abbey talking with the employees she'd seen most of the day yesterday along with some of the other mountain-enthusiast guests before they split up to get into the cars. But the ride up the ski life was made a little more difficult when Heath managed to press too hard against the door and cause the whole entire ski lift to have to momentarily pause in order for safety precautions. He'd apologized for another false alarm that he'd set off again, this time not having anything to do with his uncontrolled fire.

"At this rate, Ghoulia and Slo Mo would have already gotten in a few rounds down those smaller slopes." Clawdeen grumbled as they dangled in the air while they waited for the ski lift to start moving again. Heath once again gave an apologetic look but the others already had been resigned to dealing with their friend's unintentional accidents, occurring just as often if not more so than Jackson and Holt's propensity for trouble.

"Well, at least the two of them will be getting some more enjoyable quality time. Then again, we might find them stuck in a snowbank when we do get to them." Frankie said with a smile, thinking over how lacking in coordination the zombies were, not that they let that slow them down any more than their natural slow-pace.

"I dunno…that girl last night might rival them if she sees Holt again." Heath commented with a laugh, Jackson rolling his eyes at the mention of whatever Holt might have done.

"Okay…how bad was he?" Jackson asked with a bit of dread in his voice. Heath looked over to Frankie before making to answer, Jackson following his gaze and looking around at his friends. "What? What'd he do?" Jackson asked, sounding more impatient with the way his friends were apparently building up suspense for him.

"Well, you were trying to talk to her, remember?" Frankie began, Jackson nodding along with her as he recalled that part of his night. "Well, when she turned the music on, Holt was a bit too much of a surprise and she…well…she fainted." Frankie said, watching the reaction on Jackson's face.

"She fainted? What the heck did Holt do or say to her?" Jackson asked, shifting in his seat more to lean closer to Frankie as she told him his missing memories. Frankie gestured quickly with her hands to keep him from getting up too quickly, worried about their car swaying a little.

"Holt only said hi. He really didn't do anything to get her all tense." Frankie said to Jackson, the other covering his face in his hands at the news. "She just wasn't comfortable with seeing you burst into flame and then having it seem like another guy had taken your place. But Holt got to talk to her a little later and she seemed a little better…" Frankie said, wringing her hands a little as she trailed off with a sheepish look as she realized nothing she said was really working to cheer up Jackson. She sighed and looked to Clawdeen to help her out so that Jackson wouldn't decide to think of her as the bearer of bad news from now end, especially since she was trying to get into his good graces still. Her date with him last night had gone pretty well, but she wasn't sure what else to do at this point and tried to convey that to her friend.

"Relax Jackson. It's all good." Clawdeen said as Jackson still refused to look at them, instead looking out the window. He huffed in frustration as he turned to face them again. "No it's not. Not when she already thought of Hydes as the worst. Now she's probably convinced and nothing I do will clear my name with her…" he started to say as he gestured with his hands out of frustration. But then his eyes widened and he slumped back against the side of the car. "Oh…name….I knew I'd heard it before…" he groaned, returning to hiding behind his hands again.

"What are you talking about?" Heath asked as he watched Jackson in concern. His cousin's dealings with his Hyde side's actions could sometimes rank high on the angst meter, but it seemed like there was more that he was worried about.

"Lanyon. As in Dr. Lanyon…the Lanyon my great-grandfather was friends with and worked with. The Lanyon he transformed in front of him when he was still developing that formula that permanently altered his and all his descendants DNA…." Jackson started to ramble, getting worked up to the point Heath was starting to worry if he was going to pass out, questioning if that would be before or after his own elemental abilities might get spontaneously unleashed.

"So? Doesn't that mean she should be more okay with all of this? Not the other way around…" Frankie asked, doing her best to help comfort Jackson. She put a hand comfortingly on his shoulder, encouraging him to continue with what he thought was wrong. Jackson uncovered his face and let himself scoot closer to Frankie as he tried to explain what was wrong.

"Henry Jekyll wasn't exactly a hundred percent with his formula, and it's not exactly like he and Edward were like 'the good one' and 'the evil one' like everyone seems to think. And the transformation wasn't as smooth as it is for me or for my father. It was described by my dad who heard it from his and so on that it was a ghastly sight as Henry slowly morphed both physically and mentally into Edward." Jackson tried to explain, the car beginning to finally move again after having sat there for several minutes. "Dr. Lanyon went to check on Henry for some reason and walked in on him transforming and the shock was so much that…well, it might not have been completely from the shock of what he saw, but Dr. Lanyon was dead shortly after. It's no wonder that Lily thought I was gonna do, ugh, exactly what I did do…." Jackson said, Frankie patting his back comfortingly.

"No. Lily doesn't have all the pieces to go on. I'm sure it'll be okay." Frankie said, wishing that the car ride would be over. They didn't have much farther to go, but it seemed like Jackson was itching to get out as badly as Holt would have been. Jackson sighed but they all knew that there wasn't much he could be doing about that at that moment. "We'll just spend the day up here, having a good time, and she'll be ready to talk to you then. A little time apart will do you good." She said, relieved when Jackson shot her a grateful look for helping him feel a little better about what had happened.

They stepped out of the car and met up with the others, Cleo already complaining about having to be made to wait, an act undignified for one of her royal stature. The others who had been in the same car as her shook their heads, having already heard those comments repeatedly while they'd waited for the ski lift to start running again. Heath refrained from saying anything about his involvement in their short time stuck in the cars, bounding over to Abbey to quickly take off with her to head out onto the slopes with her. She and Heath broke away from the group only briefly to go check out the ice rink Abbey had spent the previous day constructed and enjoying before meeting up with them again as they all tried to get the hang of either skiing or snowboarding.

"No. Deuce, these are obviously defective pieces of equipment. They are keeping me from being able to show off how spectacularly I could perform on them." Cleo said, arguing with Deuce as he tried to help her get the hang of maneuvering around on the skis. To her credit, the mummy had tried to patiently listen to her boyfriend's advice as she balanced ungracefully, but her patience was running out without having any real sense of progress.

"Oh boy…" Draculaura said as she met up with Frankie and Jackson as they stood with Lagoona and Gil. "Deuce is having a hard enough time on his own without Cleo's perfectionism getting in the way. Look at how his snakes are shivering." She said, drawing attention to the way that the snakes on his head were twisting about in an effort to keep themselves warm. "He's gonna end up with them shedding again terribly if he doesn't get inside soon." She said, the others nodding.

"I know. Gil and I aren't made for the cold either." Lagoona said, wrapping her scarf more around her. "At least not unless deep underwater. The snow is great but the air is just like Abbey said up here – thinner, and the wind is drying out my face." She said, Gil nodding in agreement despite the tank he had.

"You two should head to the building they have up here for people to get warmed up in. It might help." Frankie suggested, the two water monsters nodding at her suggestion before taking off to do as she suggested, passing by Deuce and Cleo as Deuce calmly spoke to his frustrated girlfriend.

"You know…I think this might be one of those times you guys were talking about earlier." Jackson said, a smirk forming on his face that looked like something Holt would give. Frankie watched him curiously as he took the skis and walked them over to the stand of equipment that the guests could take out as part of being guests at the resort. He exchanged it for a snowboard, taking out the mp3 player and setting things up before transforming into Holt. Taking in his surroundings he noticed Deuce and Cleo's heated conversation, a mischievous grin spreading along his face.

"Holt. It's great to see you but whatever you're up to, remember it could be dangerous up here." Frankie warned but Holt waved off her worry. He got set up and Frankie and Draculaura watched as they tried to figure out what Holt might have picked up on to get his mind going with one of his typical plans. Before either of them could say anything, Holt took off and they watched him glide down.

"Hey, he's not that bad." Draculaura said before the both of them gasped as they watched Holt literally sweep Cleo off her feet mid-word, the mummy screaming as Holt and her sped down the hill. Deuce was left standing where he was in surprise at what had happened as his girlfriend just took off without him. "Dude!" Deuce shouted after Holt, hurrying to take off after them along with Frankie and Draculaura.

Cleo clung to Holt, the blue-skinned boy laughing as he glided down the slope, taking a few jumps from some bumps and hills designed into the landscape for guests. But eventually as she cracked open her eyes, she found herself actually finding it thrilling, a little disappointed that it had ended.

"Save your breath for _that_, Cleo." Holt kidded with her as he came to a slow stop, the others still a little ways up the mountain. She caught herself smiling at him and quickly shook it off, readjusting her jacket a little and putting some distance between him and her. Deuce was the first to catch up with them, immediately reaching out to Cleo to check on her, the mummy holding him close to her as well. Holt laughed again as he picked up his snowboard, wincing as Deuce cuffed him on the back of his head.

"Hey, she had a good time." Holt argued, walking over to Frankie as he rubbed his head. Cleo pulled away from Deuce, turning and crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at Holt. "It wasn't horrible, but I could have had a more enjoyable start." She said.

Holt laughed as he looked to his friend and his girlfriend. "Hey, if she asks…" he suggested with a look that had him ducking again as Deuce took another swipe at his obnoxious friend. But their little show had the others coming back over to them too, even Heath and Abbey as they stopped sliding along the ice ramp she'd constructed for her and other brave souls on the mountain.

"Hey Holt…I didn't think we'd be seeing you so soon." Heath said, his cousin shooting him a happy look at seeing his cousin again. "Okay, well, no fighting is good." Gil said as he and Lagoona began to get their stuff together to head back to where they'd been relaxing and warming up.

"Fights?" Holt said in an overly innocent tone, causing everyone to tense up as they could tell there was one more surprise the Hyde was planning for them. He shrugged and took a few steps back before launching a snowball directly at Heath's face, the snow melting almost immediately as Heath's surprise triggered his natural abilities.

"Oh, you challenge yeti to snowball fight?" Abbey said with a smile. "Will be epic!" she said, summoning a large snowball and launching it at Holt who dodged behind Clawd, it hitting the werewolf instead. He and Holt quickly made more snowballs of their own to lob over to Heath and Abbey, the others joining in so that soon everyone was drawn in and they had spread more off to the side away from the general area to keep away from those using the slope. As the fight wore on, Heath and Abbey got separated from one another in the merriment, Heath not watching too much where he was stepping. Another surprise hit from one of his friends had him stumbling a little as he registered the hit, his flame shouting out again and hitting into one of the mounds of snow that had been pushed up as the slope was sculpted, causing a flow of snow to fall and pushing out a log that had been caught up in the snow. Heath braced himself as he saw the log heading towards him, looking for a way to get out of its way before it actually hit and did any damage to him. But before he could do that, he felt himself being pushed aside, tumbling along the snowy side of the slope for a few moments with another person that he saw out of the corner of his eye to be Holt. The log probably wouldn't have done too much damage, but Heath was grateful his cousin had saved him from some nasty bumps and bruises, if not something broken. As the two of them slid to a stop, Heath went to thank Holt only to find his cousin lying flat on his back and staring off more so than he normally might do, especially after their tumble.

"Holt! Are you alright?" Heath said, shifting over so he was closer to his cousin. "Holt?" he asked again, getting a response this time as Holt sat up a little more.

"Heath…you're my cousin." He said with a smile, Heath returning it in confusion. "Yeah…I thought we established that already…" he said but Holt shook his head.

"No…I remember you. How could I have forgotten my roadie?" Holt said with a laugh, launching himself at his cousin. Heath was surprised at the sudden embrace, falling back onto the snow as Holt held onto him, much like he had done to Jackson when he was trying to get him to remember him.

"Heath!" Abbey's voice was heard as she led the group that was coming over to check on them, her face full of concern upon seeing Heath back on the ground with his cousin hanging over him. "How badly you hurt?" she said, pulling Holt aside to check on her boyfriend.

"I'm fine. Really. Nothing I can't handle." Heath said with a wide smile, Abbey running a hand over his head to check for a bump. "Especially now that I've got my cousin back." He said, his whole face beaming, causing Abbey to pull back a little in case he started to flame up. She looked over to Holt to see him wearing a matching expression to his cousin's.

"You remember?" she asked, the others catching up to them out of breath at trying to keep up with the yeti's unnaturally agile abilities in the snow. Holt nodded, wrapping an arm around Heath. "Guess must have needed to do something for you out of love." Abbey said to Heath, the fire elemental shrugging as he didn't quite care about the how, just that his cousin remembered him.

"Everybody alright?" Clawd asked as he watched the two elementals continue to sit in the snow. "That could've been so much worse." He said as he looked back at the mess the tiny avalanche had made. But the others were relieved to know that there wasn't anything wrong with either Heath or Holt as Abbey all but picked up Heath to put him back on his feet. "Next time more careful. Larger snowbank would've meant larger avalanche and we be digging you out." She said with a somewhat stern expression, still relieved that there wasn't too much of a disaster this time.

Heath nodded to his girlfriend before addressing the others. "Guess who got his cousin back?" he asked happily, the others gasping as they looked to Holt. He gave them a nod to their silent question, Frankie looking more anxious at the news.

"Is there anything else you remember?" she asked hopefully, desperately wishing that remembering Heath might have been enough to trigger the rest of his latent memories. But Holt's confused look to her answered her question right away for her. "Is there something else I'm supposed to remember?" he asked her, the girls groaning at what he had to say.

A groan from Ghoulia had her wincing in embarrassment as her friend admonished her for continuing to procrastinate. "You still haven't told him yet Frankie?" Draculaura asked, further confusing Holt. He turned to Heath for some answers but his cousin didn't seem to know how to respond either.

"Hey, I don't know what I don't know, so if you want me to know, I need to know what you know." He said, Deuce and Gil trying to keep up with his fast and repetitive statement. But Frankie gave a small smile at her boyfriend's typical kind of response.

"Holt, why don't we all head up to that rest building that Gil and Lagoona were trying to get back to and we can explain on there." She offered, Holt looking more and more impatient that someone wouldn't just tell him what was going on. He had been ecstatic at the recovery of the memories he hadn't even been aware he'd lost and now he'd been given more than a subtle hint that there was more he'd had taken away. "No. Frankie. I know I didn't do anything to do this – that knock from the concert has pretty much been healed up good by now." He said, the bruise on the side of his face looking less prominent than it had been with the amount of time he'd been out as the dominant personality. "So somebody tell me what Jackson did and somebody tell me quick. The Holtster isn't one for waitin' around and I ain't about to…" He started to say, but Heath's hand on his shoulder calmed him down before he got himself all worked up.

"Holt. Trust me. You're gonna want to sit down for this story." Heath said, Holt huffing but starting to head back to the building Frankie had suggested. Clawdeen came alongside Frankie, the werewolf and the zombie girl doing their best to give her the support she needed as they followed after Holt. They all knew how difficult it was going to be to explain to the short-minded and short-tempered Hyde when he started off calm, but it looked like Holt was perpetually on the cusp on going off on a tirade when not given the opportunity to focus that energy into his music. The group found themselves a small spot by one of the windows in the moderately-sized building, but Frankie and Holt were given some privacy as the rest stood off more to the side to get some hot drinks from the vending machines.

"So how badly do you think he'll take the news?" Gil asked, briefly glimpsing over to see Frankie's typical nervous gesturing as she spoke to Holt, wondering whether or not she was going to fling off a portion of her arm with how franticly she was doing so.

"You know him. There might be another avalanche afterwards if he doesn't take it well." Clawdeen answered, Heath shooting her an unamused look at her calling him out so soon for his accidental natural disaster. But Holt seemed to still be more along the lines of disbelieving as Frankie tried to explain. But then Holt abruptly turned away to call over to Heath, motioning over for him to join them. Deuce shot his friend a sympathetic look as the elemental winced at how sharp Holt's tone had been and the panicked look on Frankie's face. Heath walked over and the others watched as he spoke with him, likely backing up Frankie's story, before Holt leaned heavily back against the glass.

"Okay, I think we should go over and save Frankie before she shorts herself out." Cleo said, grabbing a hold of Deuce's arm and walking him over with her to go help diffuse a potentially explosive situation. However, the closer they got, the more it looked like Frankie's constant sparking was her trying to find a suitable way console Holt over what had happened since the Hyde looked like he was in a mood as blue as his skin.

"I'm so, so sorry." Frankie said, echoing Jackson's attempts to apologize to her that she'd rebuffed and started the whole downward spiral. "This is all my fault and I should've just told you last night, but I was so happy that you wanted to spend time with me when Jackson had pretty much ran away. Granted I was a little much, but I thought that if I didn't say anything, then you and I, we could, maybe I could…" she rambled to Holt.

"So I'm supposed to actually be your boyfriend and you had an issue with me that Jackson went running to make a deal with Valentine over?" He said, trying to sum up everything, his voice tight. "But I thought you really did have a good time with me, like you said? If we've been together for a while, then you shoulda known I wouldn't just blow somethin' so important to you like that date off – okay, sometimes Jackson and I mess each other's plans up, but…why would Jackson get so upset?" Holt asked, trying to understand his other half. He didn't think he ever really would completely, but he could feel it when Jackson had a particularly hard time dealing with things and it took a lot to get his other half worked up enough for him to feel it when he was triggered. He assumed it was due to how Jackson's half had learned to just deal with the surprises he'd been thrown and to not have too high expectations of actually making it to anything; not something Holt had ever even considered when he did whatever came to mind once released, seizing the opportunity for his limited time out to either try and get to whatever he'd planned or to move onto the next best thing. "Frankie…Jackson and I, I hate to say, are the same even though we are so…opposite. What I'm trying to say is, while I have no trouble telling ya I like ya and how much I feel for ya, Jackson feels just as deeply. Only he doesn't say it as awesomely as I do." He said, Frankie nodding along with what he had to say. "And he wouldn't do that, I don't think – we've been doing better since Heath convinced us to have video chats to talk to one another…"

"No, that was me." Frankie said, tearing up as Holt spoke of how seamlessly his mind had come up with another new reality that did include Heath. "I was there when you and Jackson learned about each other. I had been…_hanging around_…with both of you…" she said, trying to avoid how complicated it had really been at the time and not mention that she's been contemplating who she'd want to continue actually seeing as a boyfriend.

"Okay…if you say so…" Holt said disbelievingly, "…what I was gettin' at was that Jackson wouldn't do something to try and get rid of that since he knew it would affect me too. Or didn't he?" he asked, but Frankie and Heath gave genuine shrugs, not sure if even Valentine knew how much Holt's memories would be influenced by his efforts. "Well, either way, this ain't a party I'm game for. I'll see you later." He said, getting up and walking away to join the others that hadn't been as brazen as Cleo and Deuce. Frankie looked up from her seat to her mummy friend with tears in her eyes, Cleo recognizing what she was asking for and taking a seat beside her so that she could let Frankie lean into her. Cleo shot a look to Deuce to give them a minute, the gorgon steering Heath off to the side to keep him from following after Holt right away and possibly aggravate things more.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Frankie sniffled, looking to Cleo as though she might have all the answers. "Nothing in any of those teen magazines ever talks about this, not the monster or the normie ones." She said, rubbing at her eyes.

"When did you start reading the normie ones?" Cleo asked, hoping to get Frankie to take a deep breath and think of something else if only for a minute so she could steer her onto something else. Frankie shrugged in response. "Clair's friends with Jackson too. She lets me see some of the magazines her mom buys for her but she never reads them. Something about them being too perky for her to actually be able to take seriously." She said with a smile, Cleo returning the look as they thought about the girl's propensity for every outfit to include black and a lot of eyeliner that even Cleo had to admit was a bit much.

"See…you can still smile. Just be patient and don't give up. That's not the Frankie I know." Cleo said as she rubbed her friend's back comfortingly. "You will go over there and you will smile and get him to remember how much he's missing." She said with her typical princess tone and hand gesture. Frankie sighed but took Cleo's advice to not simply give up. "He's your man, isn't he? So go remind him of that and who you are too." She said, standing up with Frankie and guiding her away from the window. Frankie took a deep breath to compose herself, Cleo giving her shoulder a squeeze for encouragement. She walked over and gently tapped Holt on the shoulder as he got himself another hot apple cider. He sighed when he saw it was her but didn't storm off, so Frankie took the opportunity and made to say something before looking over to see Cleo still standing nearby. The mummy seemed to realize what was going on, but probably wouldn't have moved aside if not for Lagoona and Abbey coming over to get her to follow them. She sent Holt a sheepish smile as he watched her friend's less than subtle actions. "Sorry, um…I know you're not happy with me right now. But please, Jackson said he'd give me a chance and that's all I'm asking from you too. I'm sorry I didn't say anything about this earlier, but I…it felt so much like you hadn't forgotten about me when we danced at the club and breakfast on the roof was so romantic I didn't want to do or say anything to make it awkward." She said.

"Well great job on that." Holt said with a smirk, but Frankie took it as encouragement that he wasn't scowling yet, the smirk something that she'd found to be an endearment whenever he directed it at her. Frankie nodded and hurried to continue. "I know. I've not been so great with how I've handled things this trip. I got so wrapped up in the ideal trip I'd envisioned on the way here that I didn't let myself just go with whatever happens. Plans are great but I know that unlife happens and I shouldn't have hit Jackson with one of the few things I know hurts him – and you – that he just can't always control. By the way, that concert…" she started to say before gasping. Holt's eyes widened as he tried to figure out what was wrong. "You left a note to Jackson to explain the broken phone and the back alley. If you don't believe me I can show it to you." She said but Holt shook his head.

"Nah, I believe you. I can appreciate a good joke and this ain't one. I can tell." Holt said, Frankie looking guilty again at him. "I was kinda hopin' by now someone would give it away if it was a good joke, but Heath's terrible about that and so is Draculaura. I'd have figured it out by now – I ain't that stupid, thanks." He said, Frankie's expression morphing into her attempting to rush into a denial of her ever questioning his intelligence. "Listen Frankie. I really do like you…" he started to say, Frankie worried he'd repeat more of Jackson's words too.

"But I can't do all the work for you. I mean, I did with Heath but that's probably 'cuz something else happened with Jackson too. I know Jackson's got to feel somethin' for you but it wasn't me with the problem – I'm not as high-strung as Jackson about that." Holt said, Frankie rolling her eyes at Holt's description of his other half, knowing that if it had been him out at the time, he would've been hurt too. Except that he wouldn't have been as polite and considerate as Jackson usually was and let her cool down on her own so that they could both actually communicate with one another, probably instead pulling her back over to talk with him and cause her to have missed her bus. She nodded to him again, unsure if he'd let her give him a hug. But before she could do that or say anything else, Holt surprised her with a smile and yanked the earbuds out, transforming back into a disoriented Jackson. Frankie reached out to help steady him, catching the hot drink before it spilled onto him.

"Whoa…um…what happened? Why are we here?" Jackson asked, looking around. "This isn't the lodge." He said, looking down to see himself holding onto his headphones. "Why'd Holt let me take over? There's still plenty of battery…" Jackson said, making to replace the earbuds.

"No…no…" Frankie said, catching Jackson before he triggered his alter ego. "Holt had enough for now. I…I finally told him what happened." Frankie said, Jackson looking at her incredulously.

"You waited to tell him? You weren't…_afraid_…to tell him, right?" Jackson asked warily, Frankie having no doubt that he was thinking about what had happened with Lily at the club. Frankie shook her head and gave him a soft smile. "No. Not in that way. Holt was so open to wanting to spend time with me that I didn't want to ruin it by telling him what had happened. But you remember Heath, right?" she asked, looking over across the room to see Heath looking anxious to come over and ask that question himself.

Jackson took a moment as he thought about what she had asked before gasping and stumbling forward as he reached for one of the seats. Frankie rushed to help him, Heath not waiting for an invitation anymore and making his way over. "Jackson?" she asked when he continued to say nothing, a hand on his chest.

"Hey Jackson? Cuz?..." Heath said as he sat next to him. "What's wrong?" he asked, Jackson looking up at Heath. He took a few deep breaths before reaching for Heath, pulling his cousin into a hug. "I remember you…I remember both versions of those memories, with and without you…" Jackson said, Heath returning the hug. "I'm sorry…" Jackson started to say but Heath shook his head.

"Nah, no apologies needed. It was stupid but I know you don't make smart decisions when you're hurting. I'm sorry I didn't stick up for you more." Heath said with a sheepish smile, Jackson shaking his head. "Still, I should've known letting Valentine talk me into that wasn't the smartest move. All it did was cause trouble for you." Jackson said, letting go of his cousin as the two of them attempted to not have been hugging for an embarrassing amount of time among teenage boys.

"But, I still don't remember anything about you from before yesterday Frankie" Jackson said, Frankie nodding as she had expected as much. "But are we going to back out on the slope or should we head back to the lodge?" Jackson asked, looking over to the others. "I dunno 'bout you, but I'd like to get in a few more times down the mountain." He said, sounding a little like Holt as he talked, Frankie having no doubt that the Hyde had tried to convey something to his other half as the transformation occurred so that there were residual personality quirks.

"I'm up for more time up here. I stay with you." Abbey said, not surprising anyone with her offer to keep Jackson company. "Will be fun. I show you ice rink I build." She said, Jackson laughing at the idea but agreeing to check it out.

"Sorry dudes. Gorgons aren't made for the high peaks. I'm gonna head down with Gil and Lagoona." Deuce said, rubbing a little at the scales on his head as the snakes on his head continued to shake a little. "You and Heath may be able to warm yourselves up a bit, but I've got nothing." He said with a small shrug.

"Oh, right. Sorry Deuce." Jackson said, shooting a sympathetic look to his friend. "I didn't even think about how long it might be before the cold got to you." But Deuce waved him off to let him know not to worry about it.

"Just so long as your other half stops trying to pick up my girl on the slopes again." He said with a chuckle at Jackson's predictable confused reaction as he tried to figure out what Holt might have done. Cleo played along too, the others laughing a little at the relief from the drama that had been going on.

"What is he talking about?" Jackson asked Heath, but Abbey beat him to it. "Holt decided Cleo better on the slopes with him. Ride her." She said in all seriousness as she honestly tried to tell him what happened. But her awkward English phrasing had Jackson sputtering as he tried to comprehend what she meant.

"Traumatized me…" Cleo said, eyes down and hand covering a portion of her face to keep Jackson from seeing her smirk, the laughs she was holding in successfully looking like shakes from sobs.

"Oh my God!" Jackson said, eyes wide as he looked over to Deuce. "What…Holt didn't…I don't…Deuce…" Jackson stuttered before Cleo couldn't hold it in anymore and she burst out laughing. Jackson sighed and shook his head when he realized he'd been had.

"That is not very funny guys." He said with a bit of a pout. "You can't do that sort of thing to me. Holt's bad enough as he is already…" Jackson said, leaning back in his chair with a groan.

"But he did give her a ride. On snowboard down mountain." Abbey said in confusion. "I saw whole thing with Heath." She said, looking to her boyfriend, recovering from his own bout of laughs at his cousin's expense. "I'll explain phrasing later. It can mean…other things too. Dirty mind Jackson…" Heath teased, his cousin kicking him in response.

"Anyway. I'm for heading down too." Cleo said. "Anyone else coming? Ghoulia?" the mummy asked, her friend nodding as she and Slo Mo started to head to the ski lift, confident the others would catch up with them soon.

"I want to stay a little longer too. It's like the mountains back in Transylvannia, well, not exactly but close enough." Draculaura said, turning to Clawd who nodded that he would stay too. "Will you stay too Clawdeen?" But Clawdeen shook her head, explaining that she was going to head back too. Draculaura looked a little disappointed, but at the mention of waiting to go through their new outfits before packing up completely, her usual enthusiasm returned.

"Do you mind if I stay too?" Frankie asked Jackson, who shrugged in response. "Sure. It's up to you. But I'm guessing the cold isn't too much of a bother for you." He said, Frankie smiling as he offered a way to move out of their nervousness around each other.

"No. Well, I'd prefer a little warmer than what Abbey's so fond of, but electricity does run a lot smoother in a colder temperature than when it gets too hot out." She said, Jackson nodding along in his uncertainty of what else to say or do.

"Well, don't be too long." Lagoona said, giving a hug to Frankie in encouragement. "We'll be waiting for ya at the bottom mates." She said, leaving with the others. They knew that aside from Abbey, they wouldn't want to stay out too much longer on the mountain anyway. That would give them just enough time to get their things together and have time to do one more thing before they headed out.

* * *

The group of six that had remained on the mountain for another hour returned, noses redder from the cold air except for Abbey. Clawd had headed off quickly once Draculaura claimed she need to catch up with Clawdeen to be able to pick out what outfit she wanted to show off first to her father and which ones she would need to pack. She also mentioned various other problems that the werewolf wasn't completely able to keep up with, sharing a look with Heath and Jackson before taking off to get out of the bulkier winter clothes for the slopes.

"I need to get out of these clothes too. We'll meet up in a little while with the others?" Frankie asked as Abbey already started to walk back to their room. Getting a nod in response, along with the mention of getting food from Heath, the girls left.

"You and Frankie doing okay?" Heath asked once they were back in their room, taking their time. Jackson shrugged but otherwise didn't comment, leaving Heath to internally debate on how much he should push his cousin. As they finished up and were heading back to the lounge area, Jackson stopped Heath.

"I really do need to return the mp3 player Holt swiped. I'll meet you there in a minute." Jackson said, Heath looking a little warily at his cousin, not sure if that was just an excuse. "No, seriously. Before something else happens and I forget." Jackson said, pulling out the device and walking away. "I'll be quick!" He shouted back over to him, Heath just resuming his course to find the rest of their friends. He watched Jackson walk over to the front desk as he found the others waiting over by the fireplace.

"Stop Cleo. That stuff smells funny." Deuce was saying as his girlfriend insisted on putting something from one of her blue bottles onto the snakes, their skin looking as though they were ready to shed again. "This is embarrassing enough already. I don't need to smell like…whatever 'Starry Night' is supposed to smell like." He said, grabbing the bottle out of her hands to look at it.

"Hey, she's using _my_ lotion to help. Your scales need it almost as badly as I did." Lagoona said, Cleo smiling smugly at her friend's support. But Deuce handed over the bottle to Gil. "Then you want some, right dude?" Deuce said, Gil frowning as his friend tossed him into the conversation.

"Your snakes do look like they're enjoying the spa treatment though." Heath said as he walked over, snickering at Deuce's hardly pleased look. Ghoulia let out a moan and Deuce sent her a grateful smile. "Thank you Ghoulia. See? She knows I can handle this. And the fragrance is gonna make them loopy and I won't be sure if one of them bites somebody by accident like that." Deuce said, going with Ghoulia's ready-made excuse. Cleo rolled her eyes but stopped trying to apply more.

Jackson could see them banter among one another from where he waited for Lily to come out, having asked specifically for her to be paged by the attendant. But the longer he waited, the more he was second-guessing his idea. But he saw Lily walk over, her shoulders slumping as she saw him. But Jackson tried to take it in stride, instead pulling her over towards one of the hallways so that they could find a spot to talk quietly, worried about the look he saw from Clawd as they passed him. He was sure that he was going to be the topic of discussion after that, but didn't dwell on that.

"Okay. What do you want?" Lily asked, stopping them from going any further. Jackson sighed but pulled out the mp3 player and held it out for her. Her eyes widened as she snatched it back from him. "So that's where it went. I've been getting hounded all day for it. Thanks a lot." She said sarcastically, Jackson looking guiltily at her.

"I know. Holt's an idiot sometimes." Jackson said, Lily pocketing the device at looking curiously at Jackson at the mention of his alter ego. "But that's not completely why I wanted to talk to you privately. Um…well, I remembered why your last name sounded so familiar." He said, seeing her stand more defensively as she looked at him.

"Look, what happened between our families back then doesn't have to affect what we are like to each other now. I really am trying to be friends." Jackson said, but Lily huffed at what he said.

"So? I should forget about that? It's my family history." She said, Jackson sighing in frustration. "No. That's not what I said. I meant that you don't have all the pieces of the story." Jackson said. "You can't judge someone like that, only make assumptions. And I'm not whatever horrific creature you seem to have built me up as. I get into arguments all the time with Holt and he does a lot of stupid things I come to regret, but he's not the epitome of evil." Jackson said, seeing that Lily was still not relaxing around him.

"But your great-grandfather did kill my great-great-uncle. Accident or not, doesn't change the fact that he still died." Lily said, sounding like she expected to have caught Jackson and get him to trip up on his explanation of himself to her.

"Okay. Yes. That fact remains the same but it wasn't like Henry Jekyll wanted to off his best friend. And it could have been just a part of a number of factors that unfortunately contributed to your great-great uncle's death. Either way, my great-grandfather wasn't exactly having a grand old time with his experiments too. Edward was still getting used to being out and with his own thoughts, except that they were Henry's too and the both of them were getting all tied up in one another…" Jackson started to ramble. "The point is, neither of us really knows for sure what was going on in that room when my great-grandfather transformed. But I do know that he did make an effort to help his friend, however he could with his own problems going on. And that's what I'm doing now – I'm trying to help both of us to get to know each other without the background of a Victorian drama." He said, Lily's mouth quirking up a little as he emphasized the last part.

"Alright…I know I've not made things easy either. And…my family is known for being a little jumpy. There are times when I think we're worse than those fainting goats." She said, the two of them sharing a nervous laugh as they tried to go back to the friendship that had been developing before they knew their family histories connected. "And I suppose that it's always good to know where you came from, but not to, I guess, let it decide where you're going. You're not so bad. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna just forget what you could do." She said, pointing at him.

"I know, I know" Jackson said as he gestured with his hands. "And that's probably the safest thing to do. But don't let that be the only thing you think about around me. I can hold a decent conversation; it's Holt that has no filter from brain to mouth." He said, face twisting in displeasure at his other side's more obnoxious qualities.

But Lily laughed. "Yeah, I got that last night when he kept on trying to talk to me, even after I told him rather bluntly 'I don't want to talk to you'. Guess I should've been more careful with what I said since he took that to mean that _he_ could keep talking to _me_. Guess he shares some of your smarts." She said, Jackson sighing at Holt's persistence. "But you're just as bad you know" she said, Jackson looking curiously at her and little insulted.

"You still called me over to talk to me, even after everything that's happened." Lily said, taking on a softer tone as she finally relaxed her posture. "I shouldn't have been so hung up on that, but, it's a scary thought that the boogeyman that got one of your own once had come back again." She said, sincerity in her voice.

"Boogeyman? You should see the real boogeyman when he comes to parent night at my school." Jackson said in an attempt to sound nonchalant at the prospect, even though he had also been a little frightened when he'd heard that Twyla's father was going to be crossing paths with him that day. But he had obviously picked up on his fear and given him the chance to say hello on his own, commenting on how different Jackson was in much the same way that Dracula had.

But his nervous behavior seemed to do the trick and Lily gave a real laugh. "You actually met the boogeyman?" she asked, wide-eyed at the idea. Jackson nodded and she shook her head at the thought. "And I thought having the funeral director come to parent day was a little creepy." She said with a shudder, Jackson laughing.

"Are we okay now?" Jackson asked when the moment had passed, looking anything but confident. But Lily nodded. "Awesome. We could maybe skype or something to keep in touch." He suggested, Lily smiling at the idea.

"You're a sweet guy Jackson. And Holt had a few good lines of his own, even if he did push me away from my own music setup." She said, Jackson once again looking sheepish at what his alter ego did. But he was completely taken by surprise when Lily decided to quickly give him a kiss, pulling away and laughing at the surprised look on Jackson's face.

"I'm glad we got to meet. And I'll hold you to that skype session." She said as she pulled out one of the hotel's cards to write her account on. "But no ideas. I've found myself a boyfriend while you were gone." She said, a faux dramatic voice as she said that. "But I don't think he'll mind making new friends. Bye Jackson." she said, enjoying being the one to leave someone else in shock.

Jackson continued to stand there for a moment or two as it felt like he was supposed to have done that with someone else, desperately wanting to remember. And then, it was like another avalanche had happened as his missing memories returned, causing him to stumble a little into the wall. He slowly made his way back out to the lobby to find the others, only to find Frankie sitting beside the fireplace with her face in her hands. "H-Heath!" Jackson called out, startling his cousin who raced over to him as he swayed where he stood.

"Whoa…easy Jackson." Heath said, worried when Jackson starting laughing giddily. Heath helped his cousin over to the others, despite the negative gestures from some of the girls. But Jackson didn't seem to catch on to what was going on.

"I knew I was too late…" Frankie cried, leaning into Clawdeen's side as she continued to hide her face. Clawdeen gently removed Frankie's hands from her face so she could talk to her, but before she could say anything, Jackson had pulled Frankie into a standing position and into a deep kiss. The others weren't sure what to do as they watched with shocked faces as Jackson held Frankie to him, earning a few catcalls from the other guests as he didn't let up immediately.

"I remember." He said when they finally pulled apart. "Lily's kiss…it made me remember who I was supposed to be kissing. I love _you_ Frankie." He said, Frankie's face quickly taking on an overjoyed expression as she launched herself into her boyfriend's embrace. She rested her head on his chest as he held her tightly, listening as his heartbeat sounded the way it had before as she realized all the pieces were there again. Jackson laughed when she didn't let go, resting his head on top of hers. "I'm sorry I put you through that. I really only thought I was doing the right thing." He said, Frankie giving a nod but not moving. The others congratulated them as it seemed their friend was back to his normal self again. "I wanted to be happier for your birthday weekend and that just seemed like the best way for both of us to be a little less, gloomy, and not in the good sense." He said as Frankie finally pulled away a little to look up at him.

"I know. We both tried a little too hard this time." She said, resuming her hug. But that had apparently been enough for the rest of the group, Jackson blushing noticeably as he realized how very public there private moment had been.

"So, uh…" he started to say but Deuce helped him out. "With you being back to normal, you still up for that game you were asking for earlier? We kinda owe you one." He said, ignoring Cleo's interjection of how he should wait a little longer with his snakes the way they were. But Jackson gave a nod at the idea and Heath and Clawd had already started to head out, Gil not too far behind them.

"You girls want to play too?" Jackson asked. "Might be easier if there were more people, you know, since that other school doesn't think we're a good-enough team if I'm playing." He said, receiving encouraging remarks from the girls as they agreed to join in.

Jackson walked with Frankie holding his hand as they made their way to the area set up by the lodge for such games, sighing when he saw that the other school was already there. But as much as the other school's students were as forceful in their remarks, Jackson and the guys found themselves laughing as the girls put up another front like they had done with the SKRM team over everyone playing. He gave a nervous shrug when one of the other students shot him a look that clearly asked what he was doing letting himself be advocated by so many of his female friends, not sure he could adequately describe to him how lucky he actually felt that he had so many friends beside him. Their game went well too, Jackson finding it more enjoyable than he had thought with Frankie playing alongside him, the other students' girls also joining shortly afterward once they caught onto what was going on. By the end, they resolved to call it a draw, since it was getting late. But Jackson had one more pleasant surprise when the gargoyle that had spoken to him earlier came over to talk with him, admitting that he was a decent player.

"See? Appearances can be deceiving." Frankie had said to him as she pulled Jackson aside after he had politely thanked the other boy for the compliment. She smiled and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Frankie, I'm all sweaty and gross." He said to her, but he didn't push her away. Frankie laughed instead, seemingly content to be next to him again after the past couple of days. He smiled as he let her rest her head on his chest. "I know what you're looking for and everything is still in its place. I may be fragile at times, but we're good." He said as he held her to him, Frankie not entirely sure if he meant her and him, or both sides of himself. Either way, she hugged him a little harder before letting him go.

"But you are right. You're gross. Not that I mind gross, but…" she trailed off, Jackson making an embarrassed face. He gave a small chuckle as she pulled away from him, the two joining the others as they headed back to the lodge to go grab something to take with them to eat on the bus. "Why is it you girls seem to never have this problem? You somehow manage to pull off the 'just worked out' look without breaking a sweat." He said, Frankie shrugging her shoulders in humor at his question. He gave her a quick kiss to the cheek before heading to the restroom to try and freshen himself up however he could, seeing the girls heading over to the bathroom to do the same thing although they probably would have more luck than the results his efforts would produce. He saw Deuce in the bathroom doing his best to manage his snakes, Clawd and Heath pretty much satisfied with their efforts too.

"You need some help Deuce?" Jackson asked as he saw his gorgon friend having some difficulty. He sympathized with the other's difficulties with looking in a mirror, both of them worried about changing their appearance at what they might see. Deuce sighed as he admitted he might need a little help, Jackson coming to stand beside his slightly taller friend to help with the shedding skin that was getting tangled up as his snakes twisted about to get out of the outer covering that had been built up by the cold, growing a little longer.

"And I thought my dandruff was bad. They're not gonna bite me if I try to help, right?" Jackson asked, pausing just before he touched one of them. Deuce shook his head, releasing a little of the skins. "Okay. But I avoided any hospitals or medical visits this trip so if I get sent to the ER for venom poisoning, I'm not gonna hold back the blame." He said, his friend laughing a little as Jackson worked to help him out, making a face every now and then.

"They know you. Just don't tug too hard if the skin isn't ready to fall off yet." Deuce said. "I'll be able to tell you if you can't figure it out on your own. Kinda like if you got your hair pulled, but a little more deadly." He said, Jackson just shaking his head. A few minutes later and Deuce was looking much better, although Jackson was sure the pile of snake skins in the sink was not going to please the staff.

"Alright. I'm gonna need a few minutes myself." Jackson said as Deuce left, looking in the mirror to see some grass stains on the back of his white and gray shirt, thinking how that only seemed to happen on the limited white areas. He took it off and tried to get the stain out as best he could with the soap and water, not paying attention to when someone else came into the bathroom.

"You're lookin' like you're back to your old self. Pity to waste the opportunity I gave you." Valentine said as he walked over to the sink that wasn't full of snake skins, although he did make a face at it that Jackson couldn't help but laugh at. Deciding to go against his first impulse of just drying off his shirt and leaving Valentine behind, he opted to listen to Holt's whispers that came whenever he stared in a mirror too long. Looking up at his reflection, seeing the lack of one for Valentine, he waited a moment before turning and getting in a good hit to the vampire's nose. Valentine stumbled back a little, Jackson's hit not doing too much to him, but he did wince. Jackson shook his hand from hitting the vampire, "That's for not telling me all the little details of our deal Valentine." He said, returning to wringing out his shirt. The vampire blinked a few times to deal with the hit, making sure that Jackson didn't actually do any damage to his face. Jackson took the opportunity to glance around the bathroom to make sure they were alone before locking the door.

"I wasn't expecting something like that to come from you when you're you. Might I have to worry about an unexpected transformation?" Valentine said, obviously making an effort to not sound as worried as he was after seeing Jackson lock the door. Jackson shot him an unamused look but shook his head as he laid out his shirt to begin to dry it.

"Cut that fake accent out. It's just the two of us. You could've spoken normally too the last time we had a prolonged conversation." Jackson said, smirking when he saw the surprise on the vampire's face. "Seriously? You didn't think anyone would pick up on that? Especially someone like me with a literal alter ego?" Jackson asked, leaning against the sink.

"What do you want?" Valentine asked, dropping the accent. "How'd you know?" he asked as he continued to rub his nose. Jackson just shrugged. "I thought I heard you on your phone with someone and you dropped the accent when you got upset with whoever it was." Jackson answered, Valentine sighing as he realized his mother's continual forays into his daily life had caused him to sell himself out.

"But I thought you might want to know that it's alright for you to drop the act now that you're, well, you _were_ trying not to take broken hearts anymore." Jackson said. "Of all people, I'm the one who'd probably understand best living two lives." He said.

Valentine huffed in response. "But I've been doing this for centuries Jackson. It's all I have. And you're the first to ever really notice." He said, crossing his arms as he stood facing Jackson. "I can' t just stop either. It's not like I…" he started to say, but Jackson cut him off with his own guess at where he was going with this.

"It's not just a pride thing is it? I'm sure you got plenty of kicks out of it, but you're one of those psychic vampires, aren't you?" Jackson asked, surprising Valentine yet again. "I know the others, namely Draculaura realized you got a boost to your powers after you'd harvest a broken heart, but they never did put all the pieces together, did they?" Jackson asked, feeling as though he really was starting to play out the role of Sherlock Holmes.

"Yeah…" Valentine admitted, swallowing thickly out of nervousness. "Think of it like one of those conditions some of you humans can be born with. I needed at least a portion of what I used to take in order to not get, ugh, sickly. Draculaura not drinking blood is supported by a lot of supplements, but those are hard to come by for psychic vampires. But we usually get all sorts of mind tricks as compensation, even though it takes a lot out of us to keep it up without regularly getting that aura energy." Valentine explained, Jackson keeping quiet to let him explain in his own pace.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to trick me." Jackson said, still not quite so forgiving for having this trip be spent in constant questioning of everything around him. "Did you ever try asking for help to build up that energy? Taking and taking is only going to last so long. You must know that at some level if you kept those hearts for so long. Maybe if you…tried to find people willing to give along with you giving something back, that energy would only grow." Jackson said, looking off to the side as he thought about it. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's better than constantly casting yourself in the villain's role in everybody's view as a 'heart-breaker', you know?" Jackson suggested, Valentine shrugging but not outright objecting to any stupidity on Jackson's behalf. But Jackson thought that might have something to do with wanting to avoid another punch to the face, Valentine's nose a little red still.

"Assuming that plan of yours were to work – and I'm not the villain to everybody…just a lot of people." Valentine said, holding himself a little straighter. "It's just easier to get at what I need when there are others who like to set things up, like that werecat that called me in the first place." Valentine said, Jackson rolling his eyes at the mention of Torelai, not that he was surprised to hear that.

"Well, um…if you can control yourself…." Jackson started to say, awkwardly trying to offer his help to the other boy. "_We_ could…um…" he began, Valentine looking at Jackson as though he was the one trying to set him for something as further payback. But Jackson just gestured with his hands to try and fill in the blanks.

"Not sure how that might work, but it's worth a shot." Valentine said. "And for the record, I like the accent I use. Wouldn't have stuck with it for so long if I didn't." he said, Jackson shaking his head with a laugh as Valentine reverted back to his long-held pretense. Jackson took a deep breath and tried to concentrate, but on what he wasn't sure. Valentine also seemed uncertain, looking over at the door as though waiting for someone to interrupt his attempt at some alternative method for his needs.

"Okay, this isn't getting anywhere fast." Jackson said, Valentine nodding as Jackson returned to focusing on finishing up with his shirt, slipping it back on. "Maybe if I use a little bit of my old techniques…" Valentine suggested, his face taking on a look of apprehension as he asked for permission from Jackson. The other turned around hesitantly, flinching a little as Valentine placed a hand over his heart like he had at the sauna. "No tricks or I'm not going to feel bad about letting Holt wail on you later." Jackson threatened as forcefully as he could, but Valentine only nodded. Jackson took a deep breath again and tried to clear his mind to let Valentine begin, finding that instead of the tugging sensation he'd experienced before, it was like he was hit with a pleasant wash of morning air that felt more invigorating than he'd expected. He tried to focus on pushing that back, feeling the loss only briefly before the process repeated itself. The two boys stayed that way for another minute before there was banging on the door, Deuce's voice asking Jackson if he'd fallen in or something. Jackson looked to Valentine to break the connection but Deuce clearly wasn't waiting when he hadn't gotten an immediate response, the door being forcefully opened.

"What are you doing to him now?!" Deuce shouted as he looked over to see the two of them. Valentine broke away quickly, leaving Jackson to feel a little like when he came down from his transformation from being Holt. Valentine shot Jackson a quick look to convey his thanks before taking off as Deuce reached for his glasses, seizing the second of distracting when Jackson reached out for his friend.

"Whoa. Come on. I got ya, dude." Deuce said as he helped Jackson get his balance. "Everything still there?" The gorgon asked as the other boys piled inside the bathroom.

"Oh, you got to be kidding me…" Heath groaned as Jackson shook off the last bits of disorientation. "Jackson?" Heath asked tentatively but Jackson shot him a reassuring look.

"Yeah, all here. Thanks for the catch Deuce. Public restroom floors are not the best place to have your face against." Jackson said, brushing off his friend's still lingering hand on his shoulder. "I'm okay. He didn't take anything this time." Jackson said, the truth acting as a cover for Valentine until he decided to share with anyone else what he did with Jackson. He may have made things extremely difficult for him and his friends this trip, but he knew what it was like to be unsure of how to fit in with that lingering 'other' surrounding him.

"Oh thank God." Heath breathed out. "I love ya cuz', but I don't think I could go through all that again so soon. Frankie neither." He said as they walked out of the restroom. Frankie pulled Jackson aside almost as soon as he had gotten out, a worried look in her eye.

"We saw Deuce break down the door and Valentine take off and then we had to wait out here until you came out and…oooh…how bad is it?" she asked, looking over to the guys as though Jackson had been zapped of the memories of how to talk too.

"I'm afraid it's worse this time." Clawd said with a roll of his eyes. "Your boyfriend is now _officially _insane. Locking himself in the bathroom with him…It had to have been you to do that." he said as he smacked Jackson lightly on the arm.

"He's fine." Gil said, Frankie looking near hysterical as she tried to decipher Clawd's response. Jackson protested the hit to his arm, rubbing it as he shot a look to the werewolf. "I only did it so he'd have to talk to me. That's all that happened." Jackson said as Frankie launched herself into his arms again. The others were also looking on, but gave their own sighs of relief.

"You're an idiot! What were you thinking?" Frankie said, pulling away once she confirmed for herself how his heartbeat sounded to smack him on the chest herself. "Ow…." Jackson complained, even though he knew she was holding back. "I was thinking I'd get in a good punch. Which I did, by the way…" he said, Clawd laughing a little at the mention of Jackson getting in a little of his own payback. "I'll be sure to make things difficult for a little while on our joint project for Dead Languages too…." he muttered, although with what had just happened between them, he wasn't so sure that he wouldn't be more sympathetic to the vampire. "Sucks he got assigned to me." He said, Frankie laughing at the pun.

"Ok. Let's just grab something to eat and get to the bus before anything else happens." Cleo said in response to Ghoulia's suggestion. The others nodded, heading to the café to do just that, taking their orders with them as they headed to the waiting bus.

"Sorry I ruined your birthday weekend Frankie. I really only wanted to be able to give you only a happy weekend. It's why I thought letting Valentine get rid of my sour mood was a good idea; that and not having to deal with it myself." Jackson said as they trailed behind their friends. But Frankie just leaned into his side as she walked with him. "No. It had its ups and downs but that's life. And when I think about it, you got me some pretty good gifts." She said. Jackson looked at her in confusion as they stood in line to board. "The cd Holt got for you and some of that other junk in that box?" he asked, Frankie laughing at his distaste for that particular band. "Not just that. I may have been trying to get you to remember me and convince you that we really were in love, but I got to fall in love with you all over again too." she said, Jackson wrapping his arms around her in a hug at that. "That's every day for me though." He said, Frankie giggling at his mushiness but not saying anything as she lingered in his arms for a few moments longer before they had to get on the bus.

They'd already had their luggage loaded, a feat Draculaura and Clawdeen had waited until the very last minute to accomplish, the bus driver apparently having cultivated a large amount of patience over the years. Jackson waved to Lily as he saw her on the lodge's front porch, Lily returning it with a friendly wave of her own as he walked onto the bus. He passed Valentine on the way to his seat, the two sharing a knowing nod as he moved along, Jackson feeling only a little sorry when he saw how badly Clawd's growl had startled the vampire. As he sat next to Heath, he thought about taking another of those pills to sleep through the ride, even though it was likely that everyone would be asleep in a few hours anyway. But he decided against it, letting himself be all there for the ride back, however difficult it may be for the others around him as he saw one of the girls up front pulling out a small phone speaker.


End file.
